What is the relationship between income inequality and health? Evidence from the BHPS
What is the relationship between income inequality and health? Evidence from the BHPS
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DOI：
10.1002/hec.1254
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发表时间：
2008-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Lindley, Joanne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lorgelly, Paula K.;Lindley, Joanne
收入不平等假说认为，收入差距和/或收入分配对健康有不利影响。这一先前被广泛接受的不平等与健康之间的关系最近受到审查;有人声称这是一种统计假象，认为总体数据不够复杂，无法充分检验（和区分）它们的存在。支持者认为，这是一个除其他外使用适当的地理尺度来估计关系的问题。本文通过使用个人面板数据估计收入不平等与健康之间的关系，探索区域和国家层面的关系，同时试图区分相互竞争的假设，从而增加了辩论。利用混合、随机和固定效应有序概率单位模型来估计自我报告的健康与家庭收入、收入不平等和相对收入之间的关系。虽然估计回归发现支持的绝对收入假设，没有支持的收入不平等假设或相对收入假设，因此，我们认为，有有限的证据表明，收入不平等对健康的影响在英国。版权所有（c）2007约翰威利父子有限公司。
Income inequality hypotheses propose that income differentials and/or income distributions have a detrimental effect on health. This previously well accepted relationship between inequality and health has recently come under scrutiny; some claim that it is a statistical artefact, arguing that aggregate level data are not sophisticated enough to adequately test for (and discriminate between) their existence. Supporters argue that it is a question of estimating the relationship using, amongst other things, an appropriate geographical scale. This paper adds to the debate by estimating the relationship between income inequality and health using individual panel data, exploring the relationship at the regional as well as the national level, while attempting to discriminate between the competing hypotheses. Pooled, random and fixed effects ordered probit models are exploited to estimate the relationship between self-reported health and household income, income inequality and relative income. While the estimating regressions find support for the absolute income hypothesis, there is no support for the income inequality hypothesis or relative income hypothesis, and as such we argue that there is limited evidence of an effect of income inequality on health within Britain. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.