IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0280272.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mortality inequalities in France since the 1920s: Evidence of a reversal of the income gradient in mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Florian Bonnet
  • Hippolyte d’Albis
  • Josselin Thuilliez

Abstract

Many recent studies show that Europe has had a lower mortality inequality for most ages than the United States over the last thirty years. However, the evolution of the income gradient in mortality all along the twentieth century remains poorly understood. This article uses a unique dataset that gives the annual lifetables and fiscal income for the 90 administrative regions of mainland France from 1922 to 2020. The income gradients in mortality are computed across regions using a traditional method with calendar ages and, alternatively, with mortality milestones to control for the increase in life expectancy over time. The study reveals a systematic reversal of the gradient that occurred around the 1970s for both sexes and all ages or mortality groups when calculated at an aggregated level. Inequality in mortality amongst the oldest age groups has however returned to a level observed at least ten years earlier because of Covid-19, even after controlling for mortality improvements over the period.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Bonnet & Hippolyte d’Albis & Josselin Thuilliez, 2023. "Mortality inequalities in France since the 1920s: Evidence of a reversal of the income gradient in mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(1), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0280272
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280272
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280272
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0280272&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0280272?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2091, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Catalina Torres & Vladimir Canudas-Romo & Jim Oeppen, 2019. "The contribution of urbanization to changes in life expectancy in Scotland, 1861–1910," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(3), pages 387-404, September.
    3. Majid Ezzati & Ari B Friedman & Sandeep C Kulkarni & Christopher J L Murray, 2008. "The Reversal of Fortunes: Trends in County Mortality and Cross-County Mortality Disparities in the United States," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(4), pages 1-12, April.
    4. Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2022. "Education and Income Gradients in Longevity: The Role of Policy," NBER Working Papers 29694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Warren C. Sanderson & Sergei Scherbov, 2005. "Average remaining lifetimes can increase as human populations age," Nature, Nature, vol. 435(7043), pages 811-813, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Florian Bonnet & Hippolyte d'Albis, 2020. "Spatial Inequality in Mortality in France over the Past Two Centuries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(1), pages 145-168, March.
    2. Ediev, Dalkhat M. & Sanderson, Warren C. & Scherbov, Sergei, 2019. "The inverse relationship between life expectancy-induced changes in the old-age dependency ratio and the prospective old-age dependency ratio," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-10.
    3. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto, 2010. "Did the Death of Distance Hurt Detroit and Help New York?," NBER Chapters, in: Agglomeration Economics, pages 303-337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Booth, Heather, 2006. "Demographic forecasting: 1980 to 2005 in review," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 547-581.
    5. Jos� Lobo & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick & Deborah Strumsky, 2014. "The Inventive, the Educated and the Creative: How Do They Affect Metropolitan Productivity?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 155-177, February.
    6. Nicole Schneeweis & Vegard Skirbekk & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2012. "Does schooling improve cognitive functioning at older ages?," Economics working papers 2012-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    7. Krenz, Astrid, 2016. "Agglomeration of knowledge in the German regional economy," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 277, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    8. Hippolyte d'Albis & Fabrice Collard, 2013. "Age groups and the measure of population aging," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(23), pages 617-640.
    9. Jaewon Lim & Changkeun Lee & Euijune Kim, 2015. "Contributions of human capital investment policy to regional economic growth: an interregional CGE model approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 269-287, December.
    10. Paula Prenzel & Simona Iammarino, 2018. "Ageing labour: How does demographic change affect regional human capital?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1832, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2018.
    11. Melissa P L Chan & Robert S Weinhold & Reuben Thomas & Julia M Gohlke & Christopher J Portier, 2015. "Environmental Predictors of US County Mortality Patterns on a National Basis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, December.
    12. Di Cataldo, Marco & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2016. "What drives employment growth and social inclusion in EU regions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68510, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Edward L. Glaeser & Scott Duke Kominers & Michael Luca & Nikhil Naik, 2018. "Big Data And Big Cities: The Promises And Limitations Of Improved Measures Of Urban Life," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 114-137, January.
    14. Alessandra Cepparulo & Antonello Zanfei, 2019. "The diffusion of public eServices in European cities," Working Papers 1904, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    15. Fabian Eckert & Sharat Ganapati & Conor Walsh, 2020. "Urban-Biased Growth: A Macroeconomic Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 8705, CESifo.
    16. Enrico Moretti, 2013. "Real Wage Inequality," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 65-103, January.
    17. Pauline Rebouillat & Sarah Bonin & Yan Kestens & Sarah Chaput & Louis Drouin & Geneviève Mercille, 2019. "Fruit and Vegetable Purchases in Farmer’s Market Stands: Analysing Survey and Sales Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, December.
    18. Li, Xiaoying & Tan, Ying, 2020. "University R&D activities and firm innovations," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    19. Haifeng Qian, 2013. "Diversity Versus Tolerance: The Social Drivers of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in US Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(13), pages 2718-2735, October.
    20. Bezin, Emeline & Moizeau, Fabien, 2017. "Cultural dynamics, social mobility and urban segregation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 173-187.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pone00:0280272. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.