Essays on the Political Economy of Development and Health

This thesis presents three essays on the political economy of development and health, using Pakistan as a study. Chapter 1 examines the effect of exposure to political violence in early life on domestic violence in married life. It also investigates the susceptible age brackets in early life that are critical in shaping adult behaviour. We collected data on domestic violence from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), on political violence from British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS) political violence dataset and Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Our findings suggest that woman’s earlier exposure to political violence has no effect on perpetrating domestic violence but that the exposure of their husbands has a significant impact. The husbands’ exposure to political violence at the age of 4 to 6 years are critical to shaping their minds toward domestic violence. However, results suggest that women’s early exposure to political violence raises their likelihood of being victims of domestic violence by encouraging them to become more tolerant of domestic violence. Chapter 2 examines the effect of electoral competition on local economic development and political leaders’ ethnic favouritism in a democratised and decentralised country that has experienced several dictatorships, like Pakistan. We collected data on electoral competition from post-election reports provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and data on local economic development proxied with nighttime light emissions from 1992-2018. Results show that electoral competition promotes local economic development. Moreover, results show the evidence of reverse (negative) ethnic favouritism in Pakistan. Leaders discriminate against leaders’ regions, which is even more the case in a mature democracy. However, in some cases, electoral motives drive leaders to target tight swing constituencies in their co-ethnic region. Chapter 3 examines the effect of political violence and information disclosure about the fake vaccine campaign by the CIA to find Osama Bin Laden’s family’s DNA on child immunisation. We collected data on child immunisation from Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey (PSLM), on the vote share of Islamist parties from the post-election reports provided by the ECP to measure the support for Islamist groups, and on political violence from the BFRS political violence dataset and ACLED. We applied the ordinary least square (OLS) and difference-in-differences (DiD) strategies. Our findings suggest that political violence adversely affects child immunisation. Moreover, the information disclosure about the fake vaccine campaign declines trust in vaccination and demand for child immunisation.