Income inequality and population health

Judge, Ken; Mulligan, Jo-Ann; Benzeval, Michaela

doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(97)00204-9

Cited by 192 publications

(144 citation statements)

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“…4 Zheng (2012) finds that, while income inequality did not have an instantaneous effect on mortality risk in the United States, long-term _________________________ 1 See also Lynch et al (2004) who review almost 100 studies addressing the question of whether more unequal societies are less healthy. Informative reviews of the relevant literature are also presented by Judge et al (1998), Wagstaff and van Doorslaer (2000), Deaton (2003), and Subramanian and Kawachi (2004). 2 In addition to Wilkinson's own extensive work, several prominent studies supported this view, including Rodgers (1979) and Waldmann (1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Income Inequality and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

Herzer

Nunnenkamp

2015

Economics

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We assess the effect of income inequality on life expectancy by performing separate estimations for developed and developing countries. Our empirical analysis challenges the widely held view that inequality matters more for health in richer countries than for health in poorer countries. Employing panel cointegration and conventional panel regressions, we find that income inequality slightly increases life expectancy in developed countries. By contrast, the effect on life expectancy is significantly negative in developing countries. Even though the quantitative effects are small, the contrast between the two country groups proves to be robust to modifications in measurement, specification and methodological choices. Nunnenkamp (2015). Income Inequality and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, 9 (2015-4): 1-57. http:// dx.doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja. www.economics-ejournal.org 2 JEL I14 C23 IntroductionIncome disparities have widened in various developed and developing countries during the process of economic globalization. Critics have called for redistributive policy interventions, not only for reasons of fairness but also to avoid economic and social costs of wide income gaps. Impaired health could add considerably to such costs. Pickett (2006: 1768) conclude from their comprehensive review of the literature that the large majority of more than 150 empirical studies suggest that "health is less good in societies where income differences are bigger." 1 In particular, this applies to international cross-country studies. Moreover, the literature suggests that the case for health-related redistribution is particularly strong for developed countries. According to Wilkinson (1996: 4), the distribution of income is "one of the most powerful influences on the health of whole populations in the developed world to have come to light." 2 Lynch et al. (1998Lynch et al. ( : 1074 reckoned that the loss of life from income inequality in the United States "is comparable to the combined loss of life from lung cancer, diabetes, motor vehicle crashes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, suicide, and homicide in 1995." The so-called Whitehall studies on British civil servants showed "that, even among people who are not poor, there is a social gradient in mortality that runs from the bottom to the top of society" (Marmot 2003: S10). 3 More recently, the meta analysis of Kondo et al. (2009) reveals a modest adverse effect of income inequality on health. 4 Zheng (2012) finds that, while income inequality did not have an instantaneous effect on mortality risk in the United States, long-term _________________________ 1 See also Lynch et al. (2004) who review almost 100 studies addressing the question of whether more unequal societies are less healthy. Informative reviews of the relevant literature are also presented by Judge et al. (1998), Wagstaff and van Doorslaer (2000), Deaton (2003), and Subramanian and Kawachi (2004). 2 I...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Income Inequality and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

Herzer

Nunnenkamp

2015

Economics

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“…These have been carefully reviewed by e.g. Deaton (2003) ;Judge, Mulligan and Benzeval (1998) ;Leigh, Jencks and Smeeding (2009) ;Lynch et al (1998); and Wilkinson and Pickett (2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income inequality and health: Lessons from a refugee residential assignment program

Grönqvist

Johansson

Niknami

2012

Journal of Health Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. This paper examines the effect of income inequality on health for a group of particularly disadvantaged individuals: refugees. Our analysis draws on longitudinal hospitalization records coupled with a settlement policy where Swedish authorities assigned newly arrived refugees to their first area of residence. The policy was implemented in a way that provides a source of plausibly random variation in initial location. The results reveal no statistically significant effect of income inequality on the risk of being hospitalized. This finding holds also for most population subgroups and when separating between different types of diagnoses.Our estimates are precise enough to rule out large effects of income inequality on health. JEL Classification:I10, J15

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“…After publication of this provocative idea, concerns were raised about accuracy of the income data, contrary findings were published, 21 questioned, 22 and subsequently more studies published. [23][24][25][26] Despite the fact that these studies produced inconsistent findings, the theory that income inequality and its psychosocial effects are critical determinants of population health continues to be generally accepted and widely promoted. [27][28][29][30] Important questions remain concerning the underlying empirical evidence to support claims that countries with higher levels o f income inequality and poorer psycho-social environment have worse population health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%