Do Republican Presidents kill babies?

http://chrisblattman.com/2013/11/15/do-republican-presidents-kill-babies/

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2350275


Us Infant Mortality and the President's Party

Javier Rodriguez University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

John Bound University of Michigan; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Arline T. Geronimus University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - School of Public Health

November 5, 2013

Abstract:
Background: Infant mortality rates in the US exceed those in all other developed countries and in many less developed countries, suggesting political factors may contribute.

Methods: Annual time series on overall, white and black infant mortality rates in the US were analyzed over the 1965-2010 time period to ascertain whether infant mortality rates varied across presidential administrations. Data were de-trended using cubic splines and analyzed using both graphical and time series regression methods.

Results: Across all nine presidential administrations, infant mortality rates were below trend when the President was a Democrat and above trend when the President was a Republican. This was true for overall, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality, with effects larger for postneonatal compared to neonatal mortality rates.

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