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Understanding preference for egalitarian policies in health: are age and sex determinants?

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  • Ignacio Abasolo
  • Aki Tsuchiya

Abstract

This article presents an empirical assessment of the relevance of different factors when understanding preferences for outcome-egalitarian policies in health, in particular respondent age and sex. A representative sample of the Spanish population was interviewed (n = 1209). After being informed that those from the higher social class have longer life expectancy at birth than those from the lower social class, respondents were required to choose between two programmes: to increase life expectancy of the two groups by the same amount (the 'distribution neutral' programme); and to target the lowest social class group, thereby reducing current health inequalities (the 'targeting' or 'egalitarian' programme). Two variants, one with and the other without visual aid, are used. Majority (69%) of respondents support targeting. An effect of age was observed, where younger and older individuals are less likely to target the egalitarian policy than those in middle age. However, individual's sex was not associated with targeting behaviour. In addition, right-wingers or/and individuals living in a high per capita income region are less likely to target. On the other hand, neither individual's education nor household income has a significant impact on targeting. Finally, regarding the two variants, results suggest that the visual aid is associated with less targeting.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignacio Abasolo & Aki Tsuchiya, 2008. "Understanding preference for egalitarian policies in health: are age and sex determinants?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(19), pages 2451-2461.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:40:y:2008:i:19:p:2451-2461
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840600993940
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    1. Matthew Robson & Miqdad Asaria & Richard Cookson & Aki Tsuchiya & Shehzad Ali, 2017. "Eliciting the Level of Health Inequality Aversion in England," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(10), pages 1328-1334, October.
    2. Joan Costa-Font & Frank Cowell, 2025. "Specific egalitarianism? Inequality aversion across domains," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 23(3), pages 749-775, September.
    3. Ignacio Abásolo & Aki Tsuchiya, 2013. "Is more health always better for society? Exploring public preferences that violate monotonicity," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 539-563, April.
    4. Joan Costa-i-Font & Frank Cowell, 2019. "Incorporating Inequality Aversion in Health-Care Priority Setting," CESifo Working Paper Series 7503, CESifo.
    5. Costa-Font, Joan & Cowell, Frank, 2025. "An unconsidered leave? Inequality aversion and the brexit referendum," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Ignacio Abásolo & Aki Tsuchiya, 2013. "Egalitarianism and Altruism in Health: To What Extent Are They Related?," Working Papers 2013003, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    7. Micaela Pinho & Anabela Botelho, 2018. "Inference Procedures to Quantify the Efficiency–Equality Trade-Off in Health from Stated Preferences: A Case Study in Portugal," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 503-513, August.
    8. Ignacio Abásolo & Aki Tsuchiya, 2013. "Inequality and Risk Aversion in Health and Income: An Empirical Analysis Using Hypothetical Scenarios with Losses," Working Papers 2013005, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    9. Boujaoude, Marie-Anne & Dalziel, Kim & Cookson, Richard & Devlin, Nancy & Carvalho, Natalie, 2025. "Aversion to income, ethnic, and geographic related health inequality: Evidence from Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).

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