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Factors explaining the decline in infant mortality in Brasil: 1991-2000

Denisard C. O. Alves

[2003]

Abstract: Infant Mortality has been a major issue concerning Brazilian economic development. The objective of this study is to determine the major factors explaining the decline in infant mortality rate across Brazilian municipalities between 1991 and 2000. A cross section of 4455 Brazilian municipalities is used to estimate the relevance of variables such as education, provision of running water and sewage, hospital beds, baggage and income to explain the decline in infant mortality. Fixed effect model is fitted to the panel data and the relative importance of policy variables is estimated. Unobserved municipality effect is estimated for each observation, representing all factors affecting infant mortality rates that do not change over time. Geographical features, such as municipality’s location in Brazil might be among the unobservable. For several reasons, municipalities can have different infant mortality rates, which are at least partially captured by the unobserved effect and not captured by the explanatory variables used as control for policy tools. Policy instruments such as improvement in education, sanitation, health facilities and income growth are analyzed from the viewpoint of effectiveness in reducing infant mortality in Brazil.