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Some microeconometric evidence on the relationship between health and income

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  • Amélie Adeline
  • Eric Delattre

    (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA)

Abstract

Income-related health inequalities have gained much attention. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this paper tests three hypotheses concerning the link between health, income and income inequalities. The Absolute Income Hypothesis states that income has a positive and concave effect on health. The second hypothesis, the strong version of Income Inequality Hypothesis, states that income inequalities affect all members in a society equivalently. The last one is the weak version of Income Inequality Hypothesis which assumes that income inequalities may hurt the health of only the least well off in a society. Results show strong evidence for the three hypotheses on the self-perceived health status, a subjective measure, using a set of income inequalities indexes and robust methods to consider the subjective nature of this health measure.

Suggested Citation

  • Amélie Adeline & Eric Delattre, 2017. "Some microeconometric evidence on the relationship between health and income," THEMA Working Papers 2017-01, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    • Handle: RePEc:ema:worpap:2017-01
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    Cited by:

    1. Patricia Gómez-Costilla & Carmen García-Prieto & Noelia Somarriba-Arechavala, 2022. "Aging and Gender Health Gap: A Multilevel Analysis for 17 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 1051-1069, April.
    2. Chubarova, T., 2020. "Income and consumption of medical care through the lens of protected goods' approach," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 190-196.
    3. Amaya Erro-Garcés & Maria Elena Aramendia-Muneta & María Errea & Juan M. Cabases-Hita, 2022. "Perceived Health and Earnings: Evidence from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Breunig, Christoph & Haan, Peter, 2021. "Nonparametric regression with selectively missing covariates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 28-52.
    5. Peng Nie & Qing Li & Alan A. Cohen & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "In search of China’s income-health gradient: a biomarker-based analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(48), pages 5599-5618, October.
    6. Christoph Breunig & Peter Haan, 2018. "Nonparametric Regression with Selectively Missing Covariates," Papers 1810.00411, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health inequalities; income inequalities; self-reported health; Europe.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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