James W. McGuire explores why some East Asian and Latin American societies have done better than others at raising life expectancy and reducing infant mortality.

James W. McGuire is a professor in the Department of Government at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. He specializes in comparative politics with a regional focus on Latin America and East Asia and a topical focus on democracy and public health. He is the author of Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina and is a recipient of Wesleyan's Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

1. Incomes, capabilities, and mortality decline; 2. Democracy, spending, services, and survival; 3. Costa Rica: a healthy democracy; 4. Chile: the pinochet paradox; 5. Argentina: big welfare state, slow infant mortality decline; 6. Brazil: from laggard to leader in basic health service provision; 7. Taiwan: from poor but healthy to wealthy and healthy; 8. South Korea: small welfare state, fast infant mortality decline; 9. Thailand: democratization speeds infant mortality decline; 10. Indonesia: authoritarianism slows infant mortality decline; 11. Wealth, health, democracy, and mortality.