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Income Inequality and Mental Health

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Abstract

The causal association between absolute income and health is well established, however the relationship between income inequality and health is not. The conclusions from the received studies vary across the region or country studied and/or the methodology employed. Using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel survey, this paper investigates the relationship between mental health and inequality in Australia. A variety of income inequality indices are calculated to test both the Income Inequality and Relative Deprivation Hypothesis. We find that mental health is only adversely affected by the presence of relative deprivation to a very small degree. In addition we do not find support for the Income Inequality Hypothesis. Importantly our results are robust to a number of sensitivity analyses.

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  • Grace Lordan & Prasada Rao & Lucy Bechtel, 2012. "Income Inequality and Mental Health," Discussion Papers Series 456, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:qld:uq2004:456
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    File URL: https://economics.uq.edu.au/files/45668/456.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Pak, Tae-Young & Choung, Youngjoo, 2020. "Relative deprivation and suicide risk in South Korea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    2. Paul Dolan & Grace Lordan, 2021. "Climbing up ladders and sliding down snakes: an empirical assessment of the effect of social mobility on subjective wellbeing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1023-1045, December.
    3. Mujcic, Redzo, 2014. "Are fruit and vegetables good for our mental and physical health? Panel data evidence from Australia," MPRA Paper 59149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Ankur Singh & Jane Harford & José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes & Marco A Peres, 2018. "Area-level income inequality and oral health among Australian adults—A population-based multilevel study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Fiona Imlach Gunasekara & Kristie Carter & Peter Crampton & Tony Blakely, 2013. "Income and individual deprivation as predictors of health over time," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(4), pages 501-511, August.
    7. Paul Dolan & Grace Lordan, 2013. "Moving Up and Sliding Down: An Empirical Assessment of the Effect of Social Mobility on Subjective Wellbeing," CEP Discussion Papers dp1190, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Md Irteja Islam & Gail M Ormsby & Enamul Kabir & Rasheda Khanam, 2021. "Estimating income-related and area-based inequalities in mental health among nationally representative adolescents in Australia: The concentration index approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Wenbin Du & Muyuan Luo & Zheng Zhou, 2022. "A Study on the Relationship Between Marital Socioeconomic Status, Marital Satisfaction, and Depression: Analysis Based on Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM)," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1477-1499, June.
    10. Venn, Danielle & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Your money or your time? How both types of scarcity matter to physical activity and healthy eating," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 98-106.
    11. Hashmi, Rubayyat & Alam, Khorshed & Gow, Jeff, 2020. "Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in Australia: Explaining life shock exposure," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 97-105.
    12. 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.
    13. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2022. "Locus of control and the mental health effects of local area crime," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).

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