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Unravelling the SES health connection

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Author Info
James P. Smith

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Abstract

This paper looks at the links between health and socio-economic status. It is generally assumed by non-economists that it is low SES that causes ill health, but this paper asks whether the causation might also work the other way. Even if the direction of causation is that SES mainly affects health, what dimensions of SES actually matter — the financial aspects such as income or wealth or nonfinancial dimensions like education? Finally, is there a life course component to the health gradient so that we may be misled in trying to answer these questions by only looking at people of a certain age — say those past 50. This paper provides my answers to these questions.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for Fiscal Studies in its series IFS Working Papers with number W04/02.

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Length: 38 pp
Date of creation: Jan 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:04/02

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Related research
Keywords: Health; socio-economic status; causation;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare

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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.:
  1. Dana P. Goldman & James P. Smith, 2004. "Can Patient Self-Management Help Explain the SES Health Gradient?," HEW 0403004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  2. Anne Case & Darren Lubotsky & Christina Paxson, 2002. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1308-1334, December. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. James P. Smith, 2003. "Consequences and Predictors of New Health Events," NBER Working Papers 10063, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. James P. Smith, 2004. "Why is Wealth Inequality Rising?," Macroeconomics 0402012, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  5. Smith, J-P & Kington, R, 1997. "Demographic and Economic Correlates of Health in Old Age," Papers 97-06, RAND - Reprint Series.
    Other versions:
  6. Anne C. Case & Angus Deaton, 2003. "Broken Down by Work and Sex: How Our Health Declines," NBER Working Papers 9821, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Adams, Peter & Hurd, Michael D. & McFadden, Daniel & Merrill, Angela & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2003. "Healthy, wealthy, and wise? Tests for direct causal paths between health and socioeconomic status," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 3-56, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Case, Anne & Fertig, Angela & Paxson, Christina, 2005. "The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 365-389, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. Dana Goldman & James P. Smith, 2005. "Socioeconomic Differences in the Adoption of New Medical Technologies," NBER Working Papers 11218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. David M. Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Tom Vogl, 2008. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 14333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Hans-Martin von Gaudecker & Rembrandt D. Scholz, 2006. "Lifetime Earnings and Life Expectancy," MEA discussion paper series 06102, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Juan Miguel Gallego & Manuel Ramírez Gómez & Carlos Sepúlveda, 2005. "The Determinants of The Health Status in a Developing Country: results from the Colombian Case," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 63, pages 111-135, Julio-Dic. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. James Banks & Michael Marmot & Zoë Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2007. "The SES Health Gradient on Both Sides of the Atlantic," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 175, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Karsten Hank & Hendrik Jürges & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2006. "Die Messung der Greifkraft als objektives Gesundheitsmaß in sozialwissenschaftlichen Bevölkerungsumfragen: erhebungsmethodische und inhaltliche Befunde auf der Basis von SHARE und SOEP," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 577, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Matthew D. Rablen & Andrew J. Oswald, 2007. "Mortality and Immortality," IZA Discussion Papers 2560, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2004. "Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development," NBER Working Papers 10691, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Jürgen Maurer, 2007. "Modelling socioeconomic and health determinants of health care use: A semiparametric approach," MEA discussion paper series 07145, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
  10. Hans-Martin von Gaudecker & Rembrandt D. Scholz, 2007. "Differential mortality by lifetime earnings in Germany," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(4), pages 83-108, August. [Downloadable!]
  11. Jürgen Maurer, 2007. "Modelling socioeconomic and health determinants of health-care use: a semiparametric approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(9), pages 967-979. [Downloadable!]
  12. James Smith, 2007. "Diabetes and the Rise of the SES Health Gradient," NBER Working Papers 12905, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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