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Absolute or relative? A comparative analysis of the relationship between poverty and mortality

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  • Johan Fritzell
  • Johan Rehnberg
  • Jennie Bacchus Hertzman
  • Jenni Blomgren

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to examine the cross-national and cross-temporal association between poverty and mortality, in particular differentiating the impact of absolute and relative poverty. Methods: We employed pooled cross-sectional time series analysis. Our measure of relative poverty was based upon the standard 60 percent of median income. The measure of absolute, or fixed, poverty we based upon the US poverty threshold. Our analyses were conducted on data for 30 countries between 1978 and 2010, a total of 149 data points. We separately studied infant, child and adult mortality. Results: Our findings highlight the importance of relative poverty for mortality. Especially for infant and child mortality we found that our estimates of fixed poverty is close to zero either in the crude models, or when adjusting for GDP. Conversely, the relative poverty estimates increased when adjusting for confounders. Our results seemed robust to a number of sensitivity tests. Conclusions: If we agree that risk of death is important, the public policy implication of our findings is that relative poverty, which has close associations to overall inequality, should be a major concern also among rich countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Fritzell & Johan Rehnberg & Jennie Bacchus Hertzman & Jenni Blomgren, 2015. "Absolute or relative? A comparative analysis of the relationship between poverty and mortality," LIS Working papers 637, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:637
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Atkinson, Tony & Cantillon, Bea & Marlier, Eric & Nolan, Brian, 2002. "Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253494, Decembrie.
    2. Tony Atkinson & Bea Cantillon & Eric Marlier & Brian Nolan, 2002. "Indicators for Social Inclusion," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 7-28.
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    6. Babones, Salvatore J., 2008. "Income inequality and population health: Correlation and causality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1614-1626, April.
    7. Kondo, Naoki & Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V. & Takeda, Yasuhisa & Yamagata, Zentaro, 2008. "Do social comparisons explain the association between income inequality and health?: Relative deprivation and perceived health among male and female Japanese individuals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 982-987, September.
    8. Johan Fritzell & Olli Kangas & Jennie Bacchus Hertzman & Jenni Blomgren & Heikki Hiilamo, 2013. "Cross-Temporal and Cross-National Poverty and Mortality Rates among Developed Countries," LIS Working papers 582, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    9. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
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    Cited by:

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