Health Status Convergence at the Local Level: Empirical Evidence from Austria
Health is an important dimension of welfare comparisons across individuals, regions or states. In the following paper we focus on the question whether the health status between geographical subunits (local communities) converged/diverged in the time period 1969 - 2004 in Austria. We use age standardized mortality rates as indicators for the health status and analyze the convergence/divergence of overall mortality for (i) the whole population, (ii) females, (iii) males and (iv) the gender gap in overall mortality. Convergence/Divergence is studied by applying different concepts of cross-regional inequality (weighted standard deviation, coefficient of variation, Theil-Coefficient of inequality). Various econometric techniques (weighted OLS, Quantile Regression, Kendall's Rank Concordance) are used to test for absolute and conditional beta-convergence in mortality. We find mixed results for the applied inequality measures. Absolute and conditional beta-convergence are confirmed, both in weighted OLS as well as in Quantile Regression estimations, but we also find strong evidence for the existence of convergence clubs in mortality in Austria.
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| Length: | 30 |
| Date of creation: | Sep 2010 |
| Date of revision: | Mar 2011 |
| Handle: | RePEc:inn:wpaper:2010-23 |
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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Andrea Leiter & Gerald Pruckner, 2009.
"Proportionality of Willingness to Pay to Small Changes in Risk: The Impact of Attitudinal Factors in Scope Tests,"
Environmental & Resource Economics,
Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 42(2), pages 169-186, February.
- Andrea M. Leiter & Gerald J. Pruckner, "undated". "Proportionality of willingness to pay to small changes in risk - The impact of attitudinal factors in scope tests," Working Papers 2007-30, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck.
- Mayer-Foulkes, David, 2001. "Convergence Clubs in Cross-Country Life Expectancy Dynamics," WIDER Working Paper Series 134, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)