IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i20p5700-d276804.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of Income Inequality on Health in Quebec: New Insights from Panel Data

Author

Listed:
  • Ibrahima Bocoum

    (Département d’économie agroalimentaire et des sciences de la consommation, Université Laval, 2425 Rue de l’Agriculture, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada)

  • Aurelas B. Tohon

    (Département d’économie agroalimentaire et des sciences de la consommation, Université Laval, 2425 Rue de l’Agriculture, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada)

  • Roger Rukundo

    (Département d’économie agroalimentaire et des sciences de la consommation, Université Laval, 2425 Rue de l’Agriculture, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada)

  • Catherine Macombe

    (IRSTEA, UMR ITAP-ELSA, 361 Rue Jean-François Breton, CEDEX 5, 34196 Montpellier, France)

  • Jean-Pierre Revéret

    (Université du Québec à Montréal, École des sciences de la gestion, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada)

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between income inequality and all-cause mortality in 87 regional county municipalities (RCMs) of Quebec (Canada) while accounting for time lags and effects of other socioeconomic variables. We presumed to be true that income inequality entails stress and depression. Thus, these phenomena were tested as mediating factors. The data used consist of eight (8) area-based chronological variables: mortality rate, Gini index, disposable income, criminality rate, number of physicians, density of population, and the proportion of people reporting feeling stressed or depressed. The association between income inequality and mortality was analyzed using the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach with local fixed effects to control unobservable characteristics. Our results show that higher income inequality led to a significant increase of mortality rate with a time lag of 5 years when socioeconomic characteristics were held constant. As expected, households’ disposable income and mortality rate were negatively associated. Moreover, mortality rate was positively associated with population density and negatively associated with the number of physicians. Finally, only depression showed the potential to act as a mediating factor. Based on our findings, we suggest that, over time, income inequality, by amplifying depression phenomena, increases the mortality rate in Quebec’s RCMs.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahima Bocoum & Aurelas B. Tohon & Roger Rukundo & Catherine Macombe & Jean-Pierre Revéret, 2019. "Effect of Income Inequality on Health in Quebec: New Insights from Panel Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5700-:d:276804
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5700/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5700/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lopez, Russ, 2004. "Income inequality and self-rated health in US metropolitan areas: A multi-level analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(12), pages 2409-2419, December.
    2. McLeod, C.B. & Lavis, J.N. & Mustard, C.A. & Stoddart, G.L., 2003. "Income Inequality, Household Income, and Health Status in Canada: A Prospective Cohort Study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(8), pages 1287-1293.
    3. 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.
    4. Ettner, Susan L., 1996. "New evidence on the relationship between income and health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 67-85, February.
    5. Luisa Franzini & Margherita Giannoni, 2009. "Determinants of Health Disparities in Italian Regions," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 70/2009, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    6. Ahn, Seung C. & Schmidt, Peter, 1995. "Efficient estimation of models for dynamic panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 5-27, July.
    7. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    8. Feng, Zhixin & Wang, Wenfei Winnie & Jones, Kelvyn & Li, Yaqing, 2012. "An exploratory multilevel analysis of income, income inequality and self-rated health of the elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2481-2492.
    9. Rözer, Jesper Jelle & Volker, Beate, 2016. "Does income inequality have lasting effects on health and trust?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 37-45.
    10. Hou, Feng & Myles, John, 2005. "Neighbourhood inequality, neighbourhood affluence and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1557-1569, April.
    11. Stafford, M. & Chandola, T. & Marmot, M., 2007. "Association between fear of crime and mental health and physical functioning," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(11), pages 2076-2081.
    12. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    13. Meijer, Mathias & Röhl, Jeannette & Bloomfield, Kim & Grittner, Ulrike, 2012. "Do neighborhoods affect individual mortality? A systematic review and meta-analysis of multilevel studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1204-1212.
    14. Veenstra, Gerry, 2003. "Economy, community and mortality in British Columbia, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1807-1816, April.
    15. King, N.B. & Fraser, V. & Boikos, C. & Richardson, R. & Harper, S., 2014. "Determinants of increased opioid-related mortality in the united states and canada, 1990-2013: A systematic review," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(8), pages 32-42.
    16. Laporte, Audrey & Ferguson, Brian S., 2003. "Income inequality and mortality: time series evidence from Canada," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 107-117, October.
    17. Biggs, Brian & King, Lawrence & Basu, Sanjay & Stuckler, David, 2010. "Is wealthier always healthier? The impact of national income level, inequality, and poverty on public health in Latin America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 266-273, July.
    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. Hongpeng Guo & Yang Yang & Chulin Pan & Shuang Xu & Nan Yan & Qingyong Lei, 2022. "Study on the Impact of Income Gap on Health Level of Rural Residents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-17, June.

    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. Loree, Jacob, 2015. "State Level Income Inequality and Individual Self-Reported Health Status: Evidence from the United States," MPRA Paper 72638, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Luo, Weixiang & Xie, Yu, 2020. "Economic growth, income inequality and life expectancy in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    3. Paula K. Lorgelly & Joanne Lindley, 2008. "What is the relationship between income inequality and health? Evidence from the BHPS," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 249-265, February.
    4. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Karlsdotter, Kristina & Martín Martín, José J. & López del Amo González, M. Puerto, 2012. "Multilevel analysis of income, income inequalities and health in Spain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1099-1106.
    6. Rostila, Mikael & Kölegård, Maria L. & Fritzell, Johan, 2012. "Income inequality and self-rated health in Stockholm, Sweden: A test of the ‘income inequality hypothesis’ on two levels of aggregation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1091-1098.
    7. Chen, Zhuo & Meltzer, David, 2008. "Beefing up with the Chans: Evidence for the effects of relative income and income inequality on health from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2206-2217, June.
    8. Jon Erik Finnvold, 2019. "How Income Inequality and Immigrant Background Affect children’s Use of Mental Healthcare Services in Oslo, Norway," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(6), pages 1881-1896, December.
    9. Ankur Singh & Jane Harford & José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes & Marco A Peres, 2018. "Area-level income inequality and oral health among Australian adults—A population-based multilevel study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Jianfeng Yao and Fafanyo Asiseh, 2019. "An Economic Analysis of Household Income Inequality and BMI in China," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 44(1), pages 23-37, March.
    11. Nicolle A Mode & Michele K Evans & Alan B Zonderman, 2016. "Race, Neighborhood Economic Status, Income Inequality and Mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Leena K. Koivusilta, 2018. "Country-Level Investment in Cultural Opportunity Structures. A Potential Source of Health Differences Between 21 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 1091-1118, June.
    14. Hugh Gravelle & Matt Sutton, 2009. "Income, relative income, and self‐reported health in Britain 1979–2000," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 125-145, February.
    15. Tadadjeu, Sosson & Njangang, Henri & Asongu, Simplice A. & Kamguia, Brice, 2023. "Natural resources, child mortality and governance quality in African countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    16. Maite Blázquez & Elena Cottini & Ainhoa Herrarte, 2014. "The socioeconomic gradient in health: how important is material deprivation?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(2), pages 239-264, June.
    17. Sebastian Kripfganz, 2017. "Sequential (two-stage) estimation of linear panel-data models," German Stata Users' Group Meetings 2017 03, Stata Users Group.
    18. Ofori, Isaac K. & Dossou, Marcel A.M. & Asongu, Simplice A. & Armah, Mark K., 2023. "Bridging Africa’s income inequality gap: How relevant is China’s outward FDI to Africa?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).
    19. Masood Gheasi & Noriko Ishikawa & Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp, 2019. "A meta-analysis of human health differences in urban and rural environments," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 167-186, December.
    20. Jones, Andrew M. & Wildman, John, 2008. "Health, income and relative deprivation: Evidence from the BHPS," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 308-324, March.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5700-:d:276804. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.