@article {67306,
	title = {Epi+demos+cracy: Linking Political Systems and Priorities to the Magnitude of Health Inequities{\textemdash}Evidence, Gaps, and a Research A},
	year = {2009},
	note = {},
	month = {May 27, 2009},
	abstract = {A new focus within both social epidemiology and political sociology investigates how political systems and priorities shape health inequities. To advance{\textemdash}and better integrate{\textemdash}research on political determinants of health inequities, the authors conducted a systematic search of the ISI Web of Knowledge and PubMed databases and identified 45 studies, commencing in 1992, that explicitly and empirically tested, in relation to an a priori political hypothesis, for either 1) changes in the magnitude of health inequities or 2) significant cross-national differences in the magnitude of health inequities. Overall, 84\% of the studies focused on the global North, and all clustered around 4 political factors: 1) the transition to a capitalist economy; 2) neoliberal restructuring; 3) welfare states; and 4) political incorporation of subordinated racial/ethnic, indigenous, and gender groups. The evidence suggested that the first 2 factors probably increase health inequities, the third is inconsistently related, and the fourth helps reduce them. In this review, the authors critically summarize these studies{\textquoteright} findings, consider methodological limitations, and propose a research agenda{\textemdash}with careful attention to spatiotemporal scale, level, time frame (e.g., life course, historical generation), choice of health outcomes, inclusion of polities, and specification of political mechanisms{\textemdash}to address the enormous gaps in knowledge that were identified.},
	author = {Beckfield, Jason and Krieger, Nancy}
}
