IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v62y2006i3p779-791.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Further examination of the cross-country association between income inequality and population health

Author

Listed:
  • Ram, Rati

Abstract

Several scholars have put forward the view that the estimates by Rodgers [(1979). Income and inequality as determinants of mortality: An international cross-section analysis. Population Studies, 33 (2), 343-351], Flegg [(1982). Inequality of income, illiteracy and medical care as determinants of infant mortality in underdeveloped countries. Population Studies, 36 (3), 441-458] and Waldmann [(1992). Income distribution and infant mortality. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107 (4), 1283-1302] showing a negative cross-country association between income inequality and population health, cannot be replicated from recent data. In view of the importance of this matter, the present study further examines the issue from the most recent, and probably more accurate, data for the largest cross-country sample used in this line of research. The main conclusion is that the negative cross-country association between income inequality and good health, reported by Rodgers, Flegg, and Waldmann, is replicated very well. The different findings indicated by some scholars may have been due to their samples or the models being unusual. Therefore, the recent skepticism about the existence of such a negative association needs to be reconsidered. Several additional points are also noted. First, income inequality shows significance even after an index of ethnic heterogeneity is included. Second, ethnic heterogeneity itself has a negative association with population health. Third, income inequality retains significance in the presence of a measure of social capital. Fourth, however, the association between the measure of social capital and population health appears weak. Fifth, a simple analysis does not support the view that the positive association between income inequality and infant mortality in less developed countries (LDCs) may just be a reflection of the role of poverty. Finally, there is some support for the proposition that while income may be relatively more important for health in LDCs, the role of income inequality may be stronger in developed economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ram, Rati, 2006. "Further examination of the cross-country association between income inequality and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 779-791, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:3:p:779-791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00320-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    3. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    4. Judge, Ken & Mulligan, Jo-Ann & Benzeval, Michaela, 0. "Income inequality and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 567-579, February.
    5. John Wildman & Hugh Gravelle & Matthew Sutton, 2003. "Health and income inequality: attempting to avoid the aggregation problem," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(9), pages 999-1004.
    6. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    7. Robert J. Waldmann, 1992. "Income Distribution and Infant Mortality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1283-1302.
    8. World Bank, 2002. "World Development Indicators 2002," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13921.
    9. Robert Summers & Alan Heston, 1991. "The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950–1988," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 327-368.
    10. Gravelle, Hugh & Wildman, John & Sutton, Matthew, 2002. "Income, income inequality and health: what can we learn from aggregate data?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 577-589, February.
    11. Ellison, George T. H., 2002. "Letting the Gini out of the bottle? Challenges facing the relative income hypothesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 561-576, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ki-tae Kim, 2019. "Which Income Inequality Influences Which Health Indicators? Analysis of the Income Inequality Hypothesis with Market and Disposable Gini Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 473-485, December.
    2. Mansyur, Carol & Amick, Benjamin C. & Harrist, Ronald B. & Franzini, Luisa, 2008. "Social capital, income inequality, and self-rated health in 45 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 43-56, January.
    3. Detollenaere, Jens & Desmarest, Ann-Sophie & Boeckxstaens, Pauline & Willems, Sara, 2018. "The link between income inequality and health in Europe, adding strength dimensions of primary care to the equation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 103-110.
    4. Carlos Eduardo Pinzón-Flórez & Julián Alfredo Fernández-Niño & Myriam Ruiz-Rodríguez & Álvaro J Idrovo & Abel Armando Arredondo López, 2015. "Determinants of Performance of Health Systems Concerning Maternal and Child Health: A Global Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-27, March.
    5. Elgar, Frank J. & Stefaniak, Anna & Wohl, Michael J.A., 2020. "The trouble with trust: Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    6. Andrew Jorgenson & James Rice & Brett Clark, 2012. "Assessing the Temporal and Regional Differences in the Relationships between Infant and Child Mortality and Urban Slum Prevalence in Less Developed Countries, 1990–2005," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(16), pages 3495-3512, December.
    7. Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck & Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Skovsgaard, Christian Volmar & Selaya, Pablo, 2016. "Historical Migration Flows and Global Health Differences," DaCHE discussion papers 2016:1, University of Southern Denmark, Dache - Danish Centre for Health Economics.
    8. Fritzen, Scott A., 2007. "Reorienting Health Ministry roles in transition settings: Capacity and strategy gaps," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 73-83, September.
    9. Rati Ram, 2010. "Social Capital and Happiness: Additional Cross-Country Evidence," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 409-418, August.
    10. Olsen, Karen M. & Dahl, Svenn-Åge, 2007. "Health differences between European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1665-1678, April.
    11. Fabrizio Carmignani & Sriram Shankar & Eng Tan & Kam Tang, 2014. "Identifying covariates of population health using extreme bound analysis," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(5), pages 515-531, June.
    12. Ioana Pop & Erik Ingen & Wim Oorschot, 2013. "Inequality, Wealth and Health: Is Decreasing Income Inequality the Key to Create Healthier Societies?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 1025-1043, September.
    13. Baltica Cabieses & Richard Cookson & Manuel Espinoza & Gillian Santorelli & Iris Delgado, 2015. "Did Socioeconomic Inequality in Self-Reported Health in Chile Fall after the Equity-Based Healthcare Reform of 2005? A Concentration Index Decomposition Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Roberta Torre & Mikko Myrskylä, 2014. "Income inequality and population health: An analysis of panel data for 21 developed countries, 1975-2006," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(1), pages 1-13, March.
    15. Shazly Savahl & Ferran Casas & Sabirah Adams, 2017. "Children’s Subjective Well-being: Multi-Group Analysis Among a Sample of Children from Two Socio-Economic Status Groups in the Western Cape, South Africa," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(2), pages 473-488, June.
    16. Rob Clark & Kara Snawder, 2020. "A Cross-National Analysis of Lifespan Inequality, 1950–2015: Examining the Distribution of Mortality Within Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 705-732, April.
    17. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    18. Zheng, Hui, 2012. "Do people die from income inequality of a decade ago?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 36-45.
    19. Ioana van Deurzen & Wim van Oorschot & Erik van Ingen, 2014. "The Link between Inequality and Population Health in Low and Middle Income Countries: Policy Myth or Social Reality?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Rajan, Keertichandra & Kennedy, Jonathan & King, Lawrence, 2013. "Is wealthier always healthier in poor countries? The health implications of income, inequality, poverty, and literacy in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 98-107.
    21. Andrew Jorgenson, 2015. "Inequality and the carbon intensity of human well-being," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(3), pages 277-282, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ken Judge & Iain Paterson, 2001. "Poverty, Income Inequality and Health," Treasury Working Paper Series 01/29, New Zealand Treasury.
    2. Tilman Tacke & Robert J. Waldmann, 2013. "Infant mortality, relative income and public policy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(22), pages 3240-3254, August.
    3. David Cantarero & Marta Pascual & Jose Maria Sarabia, 2004. "Can income inequality contribute to understand inequalities in health? An empirical approach based on the European Community Household Panel," ERSA conference papers ersa04p230, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Wilkinson, Richard G & Pickett, Kate E., 2006. "Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1768-1784, April.
    5. Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2015. "Income inequality and health: Evidence from developed and developing countries," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-56.
    6. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    7. Nicole Grunewald & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2014. "Green Growth in Mexico, Brazil and Chile: Policy strategies and future prospects," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 229, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Thorbecke, Erik & Charumilind, Chutatong, 2002. "Economic Inequality and Its Socioeconomic Impact," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1477-1495, September.
    9. Grönqvist, Hans & Johansson, Per & Niknami, Susan, 2012. "Income inequality and health: Lessons from a refugee residential assignment program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 617-629.
    10. Leigh, Andrew & Jencks, Christopher, 2007. "Inequality and mortality: Long-run evidence from a panel of countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-24, January.
    11. Nejat Anbarci & Monica Escaleras & Charles Register, 2005. "Income, Income Inequality and the “Hidden Epidemic” of Traffic Fatalities," Working Papers 05002, Department of Economics, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, revised Aug 2006.
    12. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    13. Babones, Salvatore J., 2008. "Income inequality and population health: Correlation and causality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1614-1626, April.
    14. Kim, Min Kyong & Bhattacharya, Jayanta & Bhattacharya, Joydeep, 2024. "Is income inequality linked to infectious disease prevalence? A hypothesis-generating study using tuberculosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    15. Maier, Rolf, 2005. "External Debt and Pro-Poor Growth," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 23, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    16. John Wildman & Hugh Gravelle & Matthew Sutton, 2003. "Health and income inequality: attempting to avoid the aggregation problem," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(9), pages 999-1004.
    17. Jennifer M. Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 1999. "Re-Examining the Evidence of an Ecological Association between Income Inequality and Health," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9922, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    18. César Calderón & Alberto Chong, 2004. "Volume and Quality of Infrastructure and the Distribution of Income: An Empirical Investigation," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 50(1), pages 87-106, March.
    19. Alberto Chong & César Calderón, 2001. "Volumen y calidad de la infraestructura y la distribución del ingreso: investigación empírica," Research Department Publications 4264, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    20. Thomas Mayrhofer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2014. "Testing the relationship between income inequality and life expectancy: a simple correction for the aggregation effect when using aggregated data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 841-856, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:3:p:779-791. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.