There is a growing literature that shows that higher family income is associated with better health for children. Wealthier parents may have more advantaged children because they have more income to buy health care or because parental wealth is associated with beneficial behaviours or because parental health is associated with both income and children's health. The policy implications of these transmission mechanisms are quite different. We attempt to unpick the correlation between income and health by examining routes by which parental disadvantage is transmitted into child disadvantage. Using a UK cohort study that has rich information on mother's early life events, her health, her behaviours that may affect child health, and her child's health, we examine the impact of being in low income compared to that of mother child health related behaviours and mother's own health on child health. We find children from poorer households have poorer health. But we find the direct impact of income is small. A larger role is played by mother's own health and events in her early life. No clear role is played by mother child health production behaviours.
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Grossman, Michael, 2000.
"The human capital model,"
Handbook of Health Economics,
in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 347-408
Elsevier.
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van Doorslaer, Eddy & Wagstaff, Adam & van der Burg, Hattem & Christiansen, Terkel & De Graeve, Diana & Duchesne, Inge & Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Gerfin, Michael & Geurts, Jose & Gross, Lorna, 2000.
"Equity in the delivery of health care in Europe and the US,"
Journal of Health Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 553-583, September.
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