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Income inequality and self-rated health status: Evidence from the European Community Household Panel

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  • HILDEBRAND Vincent
  • VAN KERM Philippe

Abstract

We examine the e¤ect of income inequality on individual self-rated health status in a pooled sample of 10 member states of the European Union using longitudinal data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) survey. Taking advantage of the longitudinal and cross- national nature of our data, and carefully modelling the self-reported health information, we avoid several of the pitfalls su¤ered by earlier studies on this topic. We calculate income inequality indices measured at two stan- dard levels of geography (NUTS-0 and NUTS-1) and .nd consistent evi- dence that income inequality is negatively related to self-rated health status in the European Union for both men and women. However, despite its sta- tistical signi.cance, the magnitude of the impact of inequality on health is small.

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  • HILDEBRAND Vincent & VAN KERM Philippe, 2005. "Income inequality and self-rated health status: Evidence from the European Community Household Panel," IRISS Working Paper Series 2005-01, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    • Handle: RePEc:irs:iriswp:2005-01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; self-rated; community;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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