Replication Data for: Democracy Reduces Inequality: Evidence Using Individual-level Data on Infant Mortality in Africa, 1960-2016

Democracy is often linked to improved welfare. However, less is known about how these improvements are distributed between groups in society. Does democracy reduce the gap in welfare outcomes between disadvantaged and advantaged groups? If so, how? In answering these questions, we draw on the microeconomics literature on within-family variation to address issues of reverse causality and the omitted variable bias. We examine infant mortality in 3.8 million infants born between 1960 and 2016 in African countries, using twins and singletons as proxies for disadvantaged and advantaged groups, given that twins have a higher risk of mortality relative to singletons. We find strong and robust evidence that democracy reduces health inequality. Our evidence suggests that democracy expands the provision of basic goods in Africa. As disadvantaged groups start from a worse point than advantaged groups, they realize greater benefits. This, in turn, reduces the health disparity.