IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v157y2016icp39-47.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income inequality and health in China: A panel data analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Bakkeli, Nan Zou

Abstract

During the last decades, the level of income inequality in China has increased dramatically. Despite rapid economic growth and improved living conditions, the health performance in China has dropped compared to the period before the economic reform. The “Wilkinson hypothesis” suggests that increased income inequality in a society is correlated to worse health performance. China is a particular interesting case due to the rapid socioeconomic change in the country. This study uses the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) to address the question of whether income inequality has an impact on individuals' risks of having health problems in China. Unlike previous studies with health measures such as self-reported health or mortality rate, our study uses physical functions to measure individual health. By analysing panel data using county/city-level dummies and year fixed-effects, we found that income inequality does not have a significant impact on individuals' risks of having health problems. This result is robust when changing between different indicators for income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Bakkeli, Nan Zou, 2016. "Income inequality and health in China: A panel data analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 39-47.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:157:y:2016:i:c:p:39-47
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616301411
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Gustafsson,Björn A. & Shi,Li & Sicular,Terry (ed.), 2008. "Inequality and Public Policy in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521870450.
    4. Angus Deaton, 2001. "Relative Deprivation, Inequality, and Mortality," NBER Working Papers 8099, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hong Wang & Licheng Zhang & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Regional Disparity in Health and Health Care in China," CEMA Working Papers 541, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    6. 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.
    7. Goode, Alison & Mavromaras, Kostas & zhu, Rong, 2014. "Family income and child health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 152-165.
    8. Johnston, David W. & Propper, Carol & Shields, Michael A., 2009. "Comparing subjective and objective measures of health: Evidence from hypertension for the income/health gradient," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 540-552, May.
    9. Marcel Kerkhofs & Maarten Lindeboom, 1995. "Subjective health measures and state dependent reporting errors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(3), pages 221-235, May.
    10. Cameron, A. Colin & Gelbach, Jonah B. & Miller, Douglas L., 2011. "Robust Inference With Multiway Clustering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 29(2), pages 238-249.
    11. Horrace, William C. & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2006. "Results on the bias and inconsistency of ordinary least squares for the linear probability model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 321-327, March.
    12. Zachary Zimmer & Toshiko Kaneda & Laura Spess, 2007. "An Examination of Urban Versus Rural Mortality in China Using Community and Individual Data," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(5), pages 349-357.
    13. Judge, Ken & Mulligan, Jo-Ann & Benzeval, Michaela, 0. "Income inequality and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 567-579, February.
    14. Li, Hongbin & Zhu, Yi, 2006. "Income, income inequality, and health: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 668-693, December.
    15. Ouyang, Yusi & Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, 2012. "Health Inequality between Ethnic Minority and Han Populations in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1452-1468.
    16. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    17. Wilkinson, R.G., 1997. "Comment: income, inequality, and social cohesion," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1504-1506.
    18. Butler, J S, et al, 1987. "Measurement Error in Self-reported Health Variables," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(4), pages 644-650, November.
    19. Gustafsson, Bjorn & Shi, Li, 2002. "Income inequality within and across counties in rural China 1988 and 1995," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 179-204, October.
    20. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_relative_deprivation is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_relative_deprivation.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Øystein Kravdal, 2008. "Does income inequality really influence individual mortality?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 18(7), pages 205-232.
    23. Zhongwei Zhao, 2006. "Income Inequality, Unequal Health Care Access, and Mortality in China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 461-483, September.
    24. Ren Mu, 2014. "Regional Disparities In Self‐Reported Health: Evidence From Chinese Older Adults," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(5), pages 529-549, May.
    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. Jian Liu & Yanjun Ren & Thomas Glauben, 2021. "The effect of income inequality on nutritional outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 125-143, October.
    2. Peng Nie & Qing Li & Alan A. Cohen & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "In search of China’s income-health gradient: a biomarker-based analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(48), pages 5599-5618, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V., 2018. "Social epidemiology for the 21st century," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 240-245.
    5. Xiaofang Yang & Xiaojian Yin & Liu Ji & Ge Song & Huipan Wu & Yuqiang Li & Guodong Wang & Cunjian Bi & Yi Sun & Ming Li & Ting Zhang & Hiroshi Kato & Akira Suzuki, 2019. "Differences in Cardiorespiratory Fitness between Chinese and Japanese Children and Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-13, June.
    6. Lie Ma & Qiu Xie & Shiying Shi & Xiaosu Ye & Aifeng Zhao, 2017. "Regional Maldistribution of China’s Hospitals Based on Their Structural System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Lee Liu, 2019. "Rural–urban inequities in deaths and cancer mortality amid rapid economic and environmental changes in China," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(1), pages 39-48, January.
    8. Xiaosu Ye & Lie Ma & Kunhui Ye & Jiantao Chen & Qiu Xie, 2017. "Analysis of Regional Inequality from Sectoral Structure, Spatial Policy and Economic Development: A Case Study of Chongqing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Hongbo Zhao & Li Yue & Zeting Jia & Lingling Su, 2022. "Spatial Inequalities and Influencing Factors of Self-Rated Health and Perceived Environmental Hazards in a Metropolis: A Case Study of Zhengzhou City, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Hao, Yu & Liu, Jiahui & Lu, Zhi-Nan & Shi, Ruijie & Wu, Haitao, 2021. "Impact of income inequality and fiscal decentralization on public health: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 934-944.
    11. Jing Zhao & Xiaoru Zuo & Chun-Ping Chang, 2023. "More economic growth with the better public health? Evidence from Western China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 1083-1112, April.
    12. Junfeng Jiang, 2023. "Heterogeneous Influence of Socioeconomic Inequality on Population Health: A Cross-national Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 1109-1124, October.
    13. Nan Zou Bakkeli, 2020. "Older Adults’ Mental Health in China: Examining the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Subjective Wellbeing Using Panel Data Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1349-1383, April.
    14. Changjian Pan & Qiuyan Fan & Jing Yang & Dasong Deng, 2019. "Health Inequality Among the Elderly in Rural China and Influencing Factors: Evidence from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-16, October.
    15. Michail Papazoglou & Ioannis Galariotis, 2020. "Revisiting the Effect of Income on Health in Europe: Evidence from the 8th Round of the European Social Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 281-296, February.
    16. Hrushikesh Mallick & Mantu Kumar Mahalik & Hemachandra Padhan, 2020. "Does globalization exacerbate income inequality in two largest emerging economies? The role of FDI and remittances inflows," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(4), pages 443-480, December.
    17. Ren, Yanjun & Li, Hui & Wang, Xiaobing, 2019. "Family income and nutrition-related health: Evidence from food consumption in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 58-76.
    18. Luo, Weixiang & Xie, Yu, 2020. "Economic growth, income inequality and life expectancy in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    19. Liu, Jian & Ren, Yanjun & Glauben, Thomas, 2021. "The effect of income inequality on nutritional outcomes: Evidence from rural China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 125-143.
    20. Hong Zou & Qianqian Xiong & Hongwei Xu, 2020. "Does Subjective Social Status Predict Self-Rated Health in Chinese Adults and Why?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 443-471, November.

    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. Chen, Zhuo & Gotway Crawford, Carol A., 2012. "The role of geographic scale in testing the income inequality hypothesis as an explanation of health disparities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(6), pages 1022-1031.
    2. Tilman Tacke & Robert J. Waldmann, 2013. "Infant mortality, relative income and public policy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(22), pages 3240-3254, August.
    3. Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2015. "Income inequality and health: Evidence from developed and developing countries," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-56.
    4. Luo, Weixiang & Xie, Yu, 2020. "Economic growth, income inequality and life expectancy in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Grönqvist, Hans & Johansson, Per & Niknami, Susan, 2012. "Income inequality and health: Lessons from a refugee residential assignment program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 617-629.
    7. Sun, Yu & You, Wen, 2016. "Relative-deprivation effects on child health in China," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235926, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim, 2017. "Education Effects on Days Hospitalized and Days out of Work by Gender: Evidence from Turkey," IZA Discussion Papers 11210, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi, 2018. "Do healthcare tax credits help poor-health individuals on low incomes?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(2), pages 293-307, March.
    10. Jian Liu & Yanjun Ren & Thomas Glauben, 2021. "The effect of income inequality on nutritional outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 125-143, October.
    11. Jennifer M. Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2002. "Income Inequality and Health Status in the United States: Evidence from the Current Population Survey," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(3), pages 510-539.
    12. Michael Lokshin & Martin Ravallion, 2008. "Testing for an economic gradient in health status using subjective data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(11), pages 1237-1259, November.
    13. Babones, Salvatore J., 2008. "Income inequality and population health: Correlation and causality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1614-1626, April.
    14. Li, Hongbin & Zhu, Yi, 2006. "Income, income inequality, and health: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 668-693, December.
    15. Karlsson, Martin & Nilsson, Therese & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Leeson, George, 2010. "Income inequality and health: Importance of a cross-country perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 875-885, March.
    16. Hai Fang & John A. Rizzo, 2012. "Does inequality in China affect health differently in high- versus low-income households?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1081-1090, March.
    17. Costa-Font, Joan & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina, 2012. "Measuring inequalities in health: What do we know? What do we need to know?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 195-206.
    18. Nicole Grunewald & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2014. "Green Growth in Mexico, Brazil and Chile: Policy strategies and future prospects," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 229, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Petri Böckerman, 2013. "Top Income Shares and Mortality: Evidence from Advanced Countries," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 22(1), pages 57-69, March.
    20. Pascual-Sáez, Marta & Cantarero-Prieto, David & Lanza-León, Paloma, 2019. "The dynamics of health poverty in Spain during the economic crisis (2008–2016)," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(10), pages 1011-1018.

    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:eee:socmed:v:157:y:2016:i:c:p:39-47. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.