The political economy of maternal mortality: A France-United States comparison

Conférence inaugurale Tocqueville Fulbright Chair

While much is known about the epidemiology of maternal mortality, little is known about the political economy of maternal mortality. This talk will cover three areas: First, he will show the strikingly divergent trends in maternal mortality rates and aspects of policy economy between 
France and the United States; then he will discuss the challenges confronting the researcher aiming to reliably measure maternal mortality and accurately portray the political economies of France and the United States; and third, he will propose hypotheses that can be tested empirically about the association between the two nations’ political economies and each one’s maternal mortality rates.

Peter Brandon is a social demographer at the University at Albany—State University of New York. His work encompasses population dynamics, family well-being, and economic sociology. He held research and professorial positions at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Massachusetts, Brown University, the Australian National University, and Carleton College. He has been a member of three US National Academy of Sciences panels that concerned immigration issues and the design of national surveys and consulted with other governments and
international agencies evaluating family well-being policies.

Registration recommended, at drip@ined.fr