ERIC Number: EJ977541
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Sep
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-1465
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Available Date: N/A
Does Income Inequality Harm Health? New Cross-National Evidence
Beckfield, Jason
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, v45 n3 p231-248 Sep 2004
The provocative hypothesis that income inequality harms population health has sparked a large body of research, some of which has reported strong associations between income inequality and population health. Cross-national evidence is frequently cited in support of this important hypothesis, but the hypothesis remains controversial, and the cross-national work has been criticized for several methodological shortcomings. This study replicates previous work using a larger sample (692 observations from 115 countries over the 1947-1996 period), a wider range of statistical controls, and fixed-effects models that address heterogeneity bias. The relationship between health and inequality shrinks when controls are included. In fixed-effects models that capture unmeasured heterogeneity, the association between income inequality and health disappears. The null findings hold for two measures of income inequality: the Gini coefficient and the share of income received by the poorest quintile of the population. Analysis of a sample of wealthy countries also fails to support the hypothesis. (Contains 5 tables and 5 notes.)
Descriptors: Evidence, Poverty, Income, Health, Cross Cultural Studies, Social Differences, Economic Factors, Correlation, Statistical Analysis, Models
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A