IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/64174.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inequalities of income and inequalities of longevity: a cross-country study

Author

Listed:
  • Neumayer, Eric
  • Plümper, Thomas

Abstract

Objectives. We examined the effects of market income inequality (income inequality before taxes and transfers) and income redistribution via taxes and transfers on inequality in longevity. Methods. Life tables were used to compute Gini coefficients of longevity inequality for all individuals and for individuals that survived at least to the age of ten. Longevity inequality was regressed on market income inequality and income redistribution controlling for a range of potential confounders in a cross-sectional time-series sample of up to 28 predominantly Western developed countries and up to 37 years. Results. Income inequality before taxes and transfers is positively associated with inequality in the number of years lived, while income redistribution (the difference between market income inequality and income inequality after taxes and transfers have been accounted for) is negatively associated with longevity inequality in our sample. Conclusions. To the extent that our estimated effects based on observational data are causal, governments can reduce inequality in the number of years lived not only via public health policies, but also via their influence on market income inequality and the redistribution of incomes from the relatively rich to the relatively poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Neumayer, Eric & Plümper, Thomas, 2016. "Inequalities of income and inequalities of longevity: a cross-country study," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64174, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:64174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/64174/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Braveman, P.A. & Cubbin, C. & Egerter, S. & Williams, D.R. & Pamuk, E., 2010. "Socioeconomic disparities in health in the united States: What the patterns tell us," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(S1), pages 186-196.
    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. Ruhai Bai & Junxiang Wei & Ruopeng An & Yan Li & Laura Collett & Shaonong Dang & Wanyue Dong & Duolao Wang & Zeping Fang & Yaling Zhao & Youfa Wang, 2018. "Trends in Life Expectancy and Its Association with Economic Factors in the Belt and Road Countries—Evidence from 2000–2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Keivan Diakite & Pierre Devolder, 2021. "Progressive Pension Formula and Life Expectancy Heterogeneity," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Nguyen Cong Thang & Vo The Anh & Pham Ngoc Thach & Do Thanh Trung & Vo Hong Duc, 2021. "Gender-Based Attitudes toward Income Inequality in the Asia-Pacific Region," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 123-137, January.
    4. Rob Clark & Kara Snawder, 2020. "A Cross-National Analysis of Lifespan Inequality, 1950–2015: Examining the Distribution of Mortality Within Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 705-732, April.
    5. Jan Delhey & Leonie C. Steckermeier, 2020. "Social Ills in Rich Countries: New Evidence on Levels, Causes, and Mediators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 87-125, May.
    6. Pereira, Diogo Santos & Marques, António Cardoso & Fuinhas, José Alberto, 2019. "Are renewables affecting income distribution and increasing the risk of household poverty?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 791-803.

    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. Paul D. Juarez & Mohammad Tabatabai & Robert Burciaga Valdez & Darryl B. Hood & Wansoo Im & Charles Mouton & Cynthia Colen & Mohammad Z. Al-Hamdan & Patricia Matthews-Juarez & Maureen Y. Lichtveld & D, 2020. "The Effects of Social, Personal, and Behavioral Risk Factors and PM 2.5 on Cardio-Metabolic Disparities in a Cohort of Community Health Center Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Lowe, Kate & Mosby, Kim, 2016. "The conceptual mismatch: A qualitative analysis of transportation costs and stressors for low-income adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-8.
    3. Bahram Sanginabadi, 2017. "Resource Abundance and Life Expectancy," Papers 1801.00369, arXiv.org.
    4. Odeyemi Gbenga A., 2015. "Understanding the Dynamics between Income and Health: Evidence Form African’s Richest and Poorest Countries," Journal of Public Policy & Governance, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(2), pages 56-67.
    5. Al-Shboul, Mohammad & Al Rawashdeh, Rami, 2022. "The impact of institutional quality and resources rent on health: The case of GCC," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    7. Malavika A Subramanyam & Ana V Diez-Roux & J Richard Pilsner & Eduardo Villamor & Kathleen M Donohue & Yongmei Liu & Nancy S Jenny, 2013. "Social Factors and Leukocyte DNA Methylation of Repetitive Sequences: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, January.
    8. Joan Costa-Font & Frank Cowell & Xuezhu Shi & Joan Costa-i-Font, 2023. "Health Inequality and Health Insurance Coverage: The United States and China Compared," CESifo Working Paper Series 10807, CESifo.
    9. Caitlin Brown & Martin Ravallion, 2023. "Inequality and Social Distancing during the Pandemic," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 679-702, September.
    10. Malia Jones & Anne Pebley, 2014. "Redefining Neighborhoods Using Common Destinations: Social Characteristics of Activity Spaces and Home Census Tracts Compared," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 727-752, June.
    11. Alessandro Rigolon & Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Olivia McAnirlin & Hyunseo (Violet) Yoon, 2021. "Green Space and Health Equity: A Systematic Review on the Potential of Green Space to Reduce Health Disparities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-27, March.
    12. Rucker C. Johnson, 2018. "Addressing Racial Health Disparities: Looking Back to Point the Way Forward," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 132-171, November.
    13. Factor, Roni & Kawachi, Ichiro & Williams, David R., 2011. "Understanding high-risk behavior among non-dominant minorities: A social resistance framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(9), pages 1292-1301.
    14. Yeshambel T Nigatu & Tara Elton-Marshall & Hayley A Hamilton, 2023. "Changes in household debt due to COVID-19 and mental health concerns among adults in Ontario, Canada," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 774-783, May.
    15. Dai Binh Tran, 2022. "Health Benefits of Education: Comparative Evidence from Vietnam and Thailand," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    16. Reanne Frank & Ilana Akresh, 2013. "Social Patterning in Body Mass Index (BMI) Among Contemporary Immigrant Groups: The Emergence of a Gradient," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 993-1012, June.
    17. Héctor Pifarré i Arolas & Christian Dudel, 2019. "An Ordinal Measure of Population Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1219-1243, June.
    18. Rachael D. Dombrowski & Bree Bode & Kathryn A. G. Knoff & James Mallare & E. Whitney G. Moore & Noel Kulik, 2021. "Nutrition Supports Deconstructed and Disrupted: An Evaluation of a Multilevel School-Based Intervention during the Time of COVID," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, October.
    19. Jaewon Lee & Jisuk Seon, 2020. "Racial/Ethnic Differences in Health Behaviors and Its Roles on Depressive Symptoms among Young Female Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-12, October.
    20. Ramseyer Winter, Virginia & Combs, Katie Massey & Ward, Michaella, 2018. "An investigation of the association between foster care, body image, and BMI: A propensity score analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 82-85.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ehl:lserod:64174. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.