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Health and income inequality: attempting to avoid the aggregation problem*

* This paper is a replication of an original study

Author

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  • John Wildman
  • Hugh Gravelle
  • Matthew Sutton

Abstract

Attempts to test the relative deprivation hypothesis, that income inequality affects individual health, are subject to the aggregation problem. Waldmann (Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 1992) ingeniously attempts to overcome the difficulty by using income data for the poor and the share of income accruing to the rich. The study finds that his results do not hold for a more recent data set and it suggests that his method may not overcome the aggregation problem.

Suggested Citation

  • John Wildman & Hugh Gravelle & Matthew Sutton, 2003. "Health and income inequality: attempting to avoid the aggregation problem," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(9), pages 999-1004.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:35:y:2003:i:9:p:999-1004
    DOI: 10.1080/0003684032000056805
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    2. Robert J. Waldmann, 1992. "Income Distribution and Infant Mortality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1283-1302.
    3. Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 1996. "Wealthier is Healthier," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(4), pages 841-868.
    4. Jennifer M. Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 1999. "Re-Examining the Evidence of an Ecological Association between Income Inequality and Health," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9922, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    5. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    6. Gravelle, Hugh & Wildman, John & Sutton, Matthew, 2002. "Income, income inequality and health: what can we learn from aggregate data?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 577-589, February.
    7. John Wildman, 2001. "The impact of income inequality on individual and societal health: absolute income, relative income and statistical artefacts," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 357-361, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. David Cantarero & Marta Pascual & Jose Maria Sarabia, 2004. "Can income inequality contribute to understand inequalities in health? An empirical approach based on the European Community Household Panel," ERSA conference papers ersa04p230, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Thomas Mayrhofer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2014. "Testing the relationship between income inequality and life expectancy: a simple correction for the aggregation effect when using aggregated data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 841-856, July.
    3. Tilman Tacke & Robert J. Waldmann, 2009. "Income Distribution, Infant Mortality, and Health Care Expenditure," CEIS Research Paper 146, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 30 Sep 2009.
    4. Jennifer Franz & Felix R. FitzRoy, 2005. "Child mortaility, poverty and environment in developing countries," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 200518, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    5. Leon-Gonzalez, Roberto & Tseng, Fu Min, 2011. "Socio-economic determinants of mortality in Taiwan: Combining individual and aggregate data," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 23-36, January.
    6. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2015. "How to (Not) Estimate Gini Coefficients for Fat Tailed Variables," Papers 1510.04841, arXiv.org.
    7. Zheng, Hui, 2012. "Do people die from income inequality of a decade ago?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 36-45.
    8. Marta Pascual & David Cantarero & Jose Maria Sarabia, 2004. "Trends in income inequality in the European Union: implications for health inequalities," ERSA conference papers ersa04p304, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Ram, Rati, 2006. "Further examination of the cross-country association between income inequality and population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 779-791, February.
    10. Constantin Ogloblin, 2023. "Health care financing and productivity of health care in OECD countries: a stochastic frontier analysis," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(2), pages 259-283, June.
    11. Daniel Kim & Adrianna Saada, 2013. "The Social Determinants of Infant Mortality and Birth Outcomes in Western Developed Nations: A Cross-Country Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-40, June.
    12. Marta Pascual & David Cantarero & José Sarabia, 2005. "Income Inequality and Health: Do the Equivalence Scales Matter?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(2), pages 169-178, June.
    13. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. David Cantarero & Marta Pascual & Jose Maria Sarabia, 2005. "Effects of income inequality on population health: new evidence from the european community household panel," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 87-91.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Linden, Mikael & Ray, Devdatta, 2017. "Aggregation bias-correcting approach to the health–income relationship: Life expectancy and GDP per capita in 148 countries, 1970–2010," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 126-136.
    19. Lucy Bechtel & Grace Lordan & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2012. "Income Inequality And Mental Health—Empirical Evidence From Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(S1), pages 4-17, June.

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    Replication

    This item is a replication of:
  • Robert J. Waldmann, 1992. "Income Distribution and Infant Mortality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1283-1302.

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