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A Dual Atkinson Measure Of Socioeconomic Inequality Of Health

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  • Guido Erreygers

Abstract

The Atkinson index of income inequality is based on a comparison of the average income with the equivalent income, where the equivalent income is defined as the level of income that, if given to everyone, would generate the same social welfare as the existing distribution of income. This paper explores the possibility of extending this approach to the measurement of socioeconomic inequality of health. It assumes a social evaluation function that depends upon two variables: socioeconomic status as well as health status. With a general form of this function, an Atkinson measure is derived, which gives exactly the same result when applied to the socioeconomic variable and when applied to the health variable. The paper examines the properties of the index and suggests various extensions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Guido Erreygers, 2013. "A Dual Atkinson Measure Of Socioeconomic Inequality Of Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(4), pages 466-479, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:22:y:2013:i:4:p:466-479
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.2820
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abul Naga, Ramses H. & Geoffard, Pierre-Yves, 2006. "Decomposition of bivariate inequality indices by attributes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 362-367, March.
    2. Erreygers, Guido, 2009. "Correcting the Concentration Index: A reply to Wagstaff," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 521-524, March.
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    5. Erreygers, Guido & Van Ourti, Tom, 2011. "Measuring socioeconomic inequality in health, health care and health financing by means of rank-dependent indices: A recipe for good practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 685-694, July.
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    10. ERREYGERS, Guido, 2006. "Beyond the Health Concentration Index: An Atkinson alternative for the measurement of the socioeconomic inequality of health," Working Papers 2006029, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    11. repec:adr:anecst:y:2006:i:83-84:p:02 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Adam Wagstaff, 2005. "The bounds of the concentration index when the variable of interest is binary, with an application to immunization inequality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 429-432, April.
    13. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Erreygers & Roselinde Kessels, 2017. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: A New Approach to the Measurement of Bivariate Inequality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Guido Erreygers & Roselinde Kessels & Linkun Chen & Philip Clarke, 2016. "Decomposing Socioeconomic Inequality of Health," EcoMod2016 9574, EcoMod.
    3. Makdissi, Paul & Yazbeck, Myra, 2016. "Avoiding blindness to health status in health achievement and health inequality measurement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 39-47.
    4. Sebitloane Tshegofatso K.J. & Coetzee Hendri & Kellner Klaus & Malan Pieter, 2020. "The socio-economic impacts of bush encroachment in Manthestad, Taung, South Africa," Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, Sciendo, vol. 8(3), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Mohammad Abu‐Zaineh & Ramses H. Abul Naga, 2023. "Bread and Social Justice: Measurement of Social Welfare and Inequality Using Anthropometrics," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(2), pages 265-288, June.
    6. Erreygers, Guido & Van Ourti, Tom, 2011. "Measuring socioeconomic inequality in health, health care and health financing by means of rank-dependent indices: A recipe for good practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 685-694, July.
    7. Mohammad Abu-Zaineh & Ramses H Abul Naga, 2019. "Bread and Social Justice: Measurement of Social Welfare and Inequalities Using Anthropometrics," Working Papers halshs-02356408, HAL.
    8. Thi Kim Thanh Bui & Guido Erreygers, 2020. "Multidimensional Inequality in Vietnam, 2002–2012," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-31, April.
    9. Rocío García-Díaz & Sandra G Sosa-Rubí & Edson Serván-Mori & Gustavo Nigenda, 2018. "Welfare effects of health insurance in Mexico: The case of Seguro Popular de Salud," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, July.

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