IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ese/emodwp/em3-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effect of income-based policies on mortality inequalities in Scotland: a modelling study

Author

Listed:
  • Richardson, Elizabeth
  • Fenton, Lynda
  • Parkinson, Jane
  • Pulford, Andrew
  • Taulbut, Martin
  • McCartney, Gerry
  • Robinson, Mark

Abstract

The unequal distribution of income is a fundamental determinant of health inequalities. Decision making around economic policies could be enhanced by showing their potential health effects. We used scenario modelling to assess the effects of 12 income-based policies on Years of Life Lost (YLL) and inequalities in YLL in Scotland. EUROMOD, a tax-benefit microsimulation model, was used to estimate the effects of hypothetical fiscal policies on income for Scottish households (n=2871; 2014/15 Family Resources Survey). Income change was estimated for each quintile of the 2016 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. ‘Triple I’, a health inequalities scenario modelling tool, was used to estimate policy effects on YLL and government spending after 5 years. The best policy for improving health and narrowing health inequalities was a 50% increase to means-tested benefits rates (approximately 105,177 or 4·7% YLL fewer than the baseline scenario, and a 7·9% reduction in relative index of inequality (RII)). Citizen’s Basic Income (CBI) schemes also substantially narrowed inequalities (3·7% RII for basic scheme, 5·9% for CBI with additional payments for disabled individuals), and modestly reduced YLL (0·7% and 1·4%, respectively). The most effective policies for reducing health inequalities appeared to be those that disproportionately increased incomes in the most deprived areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Richardson, Elizabeth & Fenton, Lynda & Parkinson, Jane & Pulford, Andrew & Taulbut, Martin & McCartney, Gerry & Robinson, Mark, 2020. "The effect of income-based policies on mortality inequalities in Scotland: a modelling study," EUROMOD Working Papers EM3/20, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:emodwp:em3-20
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/files/working-papers/euromod/em3-20.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tsao, T.-Y. & Konty, K.J. & Van Wye, G. & Barbot, O. & Hadler, J.L. & Linos, N. & Bassett, M.T., 2016. "Estimating potential reductions in premature mortality in New York City from raising the minimum wage to $15," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1036-1041.
    2. McCartney, Gerry & Collins, Chik & Mackenzie, Mhairi, 2013. "What (or who) causes health inequalities: Theories, evidence and implications?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 221-227.
    3. 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.
    4. Andrew McAuley & Cheryl Denny & Martin Taulbut & Rory Mitchell & Colin Fischbacher & Barbara Graham & Ian Grant & Paul O’Hagan & David McAllister & Gerry McCartney, 2016. "Informing Investment to Reduce Inequalities: A Modelling Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Susan Griffin & James Love-Koh & Becky Pennington & Lesley Owen, 2019. "Evaluation of Intervention Impact on Health Inequality for Resource Allocation," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 39(3), pages 171-182, April.
    6. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    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. Fuhmei Wang & Jung-Der Wang, 2021. "The Determinants of Telehealth Provision: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. McCartney, Gerry & McMaster, Robert & Popham, Frank & Dundas, Ruth & Walsh, David, 2022. "Is austerity a cause of slower improvements in mortality in high-income countries? A panel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).

    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. Leigh, J. Paul, 2021. "Treatment design, health outcomes, and demographic categories in the literature on minimum wages and health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    2. Smith, K.E. & Macintyre, A.K. & Weakley, S. & Hill, S.E. & Escobar, O. & Fergie, G., 2021. "Public understandings of potential policy responses to health inequalities: Evidence from a UK national survey and citizens’ juries in three UK cities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    3. Oded Stark & Wiktor Budzinski, 2021. "A social‐psychological reconstruction of Amartya Sen’s measures of inequality and social welfare," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(4), pages 552-566, November.
    4. Xiaobao Li & Houchao Lyu, 2022. "Social Status and Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Adults: Mediating Effect of Future Time Perspective," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2101-2116, August.
    5. Andrew J. Mirelman & Miqdad Asaria & Bryony Dawkins & Susan Griffin & Richard Cookson & Peter Berman, 2020. "Fairer Decisions, Better Health for All: Health Equity and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Paul Revill & Marc Suhrcke & Rodrigo Moreno-Serra & Mark Sculpher (ed.), Global Health Economics Shaping Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, chapter 4, pages 99-132, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Dyrstad, Karin & Halvorsen, Thomas & Hem, Karl-Gerhard & Rohde, Tarald, 2016. "Sick of waiting: Does waiting for elective treatment cause sickness absence?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(12), pages 1383-1388.
    7. Hwa-Kyung Lim & Young-Ho Khang, 2019. "Quantifying the impact of reducing socioeconomic inequalities in modifiable risk factors on mortality and mortality inequalities in South Korea," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(4), pages 585-594, May.
    8. Vu, Trung V., 2020. "Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Bijou, Christina & Colen, Cynthia G, 2022. "Shades of health: Skin color, ethnicity, and mental health among Black Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    10. Ilaria Natali & Mathias Dewatripont & Victor Ginsburgh & Michel Goldman & Patrick Legros, 2023. "Prescription opioids and economic hardship in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(9), pages 1473-1504, December.
    11. Ofori, Isaac K. & Armah, Mark K. & Taale, Francis & Ofori, Pamela E., 2021. "Addressing the Severity and Intensity of Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Relevant is the ICT and Financial Development Pathway?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    12. Ofori, Isaac K. & Osei, Dennis B. & Alagidede, Imhotep P., 2022. "Inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the interaction between ICT diffusion and financial development," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 46(7).
    13. Vonneilich, Nico & Lüdecke, Daniel & von dem Knesebeck, Olaf, 2020. "Educational inequalities in self-rated health and social relationships – analyses based on the European Social Survey 2002-2016," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    14. Keim, Jan & Müller, Susan & Dey, Pascal, 2024. "Whatever the problem, entrepreneurship is the solution! Confronting the panacea myth of entrepreneurship with structural injustice," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    15. Bührer, Christian & Fetzer, Stefan & Hagist, Christian, 2020. "Adverse selection in the German Health Insurance System – the case of civil servants," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(8), pages 888-894.
    16. Alexander Silbersdorff & Kai Sebastian Schneider, 2019. "Distributional Regression Techniques in Socioeconomic Research on the Inequality of Health with an Application on the Relationship between Mental Health and Income," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-28, October.
    17. Hardardottir, Hjördis & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Wengström, Erik, 2019. "What Kind of Inequality Do You Prefer? Evaluating Measures of Income and Health Inequality Using Choice Experiments," Working Papers 2019:7, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 31 May 2019.
    18. Isaac K. Ofori & Mark K. Armah & Emmanuel E. Asmah, 2021. "Towards the Reversal of Poverty and Income Inequality Setbacks Due to COVID-19: The Role of Globalisation and Resource Allocation," Working Papers 21/043, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    19. Irakli Japaridze & Nagham Sayour, 2021. "Dying from envy: The role of inequality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1374-1392, June.
    20. Rory Horner & David Hulme, 2019. "From International to Global Development: New Geographies of 21st Century Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 347-378, March.

    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:ese:emodwp:em3-20. 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: Jonathan Nears (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rcessuk.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.