Inequalities in Self-Reported Health: A Meta-Regression Analysis

There is a growing health economics literature in Europe using standardised crosscountry health inequality indexes. Yet limited efforts has been put forward to examine the extent to which such evidence is subject to any specific methodological and publication biases despite studies rely on different samples , heterogeneous health system institutions and use different empirical strategies and data manipulation procedures. We draw upon appropriate statistical methods to examine the presence of publication bias in the health economics literature measuring health inequalities of self-reported health. In addition, we test for other biases including the effect of precision estimates based on meta-regression analysis (MRA). We account for a set of biases in estimates of income-related health inequalities that rely on centration indexrelated methods and self-reported health measures. Our findings suggest evidence of publication bias that primarily depends on the cardinalisation of self-reported healthand study-specific precision. However, no robust evidence of other publication biases has been identified.