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Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms

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Author Info
David M. Cutler
Adriana Lleras-Muney
Tom Vogl

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Abstract

This paper reviews the evidence on the well-known positive association between socioeconomic status and health. We focus on four dimensions of socioeconomic status -- education, financial resources, rank, and race and ethnicity -- paying particular attention to how the mechanisms linking health to each of these dimensions diverge and coincide. The extent to which socioeconomic advantage causes good health varies, both across these four dimensions and across the phases of the lifecycle. Circumstances in early life play a crucial role in determining the co-evolution of socioeconomic status and health throughout adulthood. In adulthood, a considerable part of the association runs from health to socioeconomic status, at least in the case of wealth. The diversity of pathways casts doubt upon theories that treat socioeconomic status as a unified concept.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 14333.

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Date of creation: Sep 2008
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14333

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I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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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. Robert J. Gordon, 2009. "Misperceptions About the Magnitude and Timing of Changes in American Income Inequality," NBER Working Papers 15351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Driouchi, Ahmed & Boboc, Cristina & Zouag, Nada, 2009. "Interdependencies of Health, Education and Poverty: The Case of South Mediterranean Economies/Interdependencias de salud, educación y pobreza: el caso de las Economías Sur-Mediterráneas," Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, vol. 27, pages 523-544, Agosto. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Christoph Schwierz & Ansgar Wübker, 2009. "Determinants of Avoidable Deaths from Ischaemic Heart Diseases in East and West Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0119, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen. [Downloadable!]
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