The impact of income inequality on individual and societal health: absolute income, relative income and statistical artefacts

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Wildman
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Societal Health ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals How Income Influences Health: Decomposition Based on Absolute Income and Relative Income Effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10738
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Cui ◽  
Ching-Ter Chang
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Accelerated Aging ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Income Effects ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Healthy Longevity ◽  
Significant Negative Impact ◽  
The Impact

Previous research has confirmed a positive association between income and health, but there are still a lot of inconsistencies on how income affects health. Indeed, this impact is caused by overlaying of absolute income and relative income effects, and only by decomposing and comparing their relative importance within an integrated framework can suggestions be made for health inequalities and health intervention. To deal with this issue, using the panel data from the 2011, 2014, and 2017 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a well-designed research model is established to decompose and explore the impact. Our results indicate that relative income, rather than absolute income, has a significant negative impact on health performance, and that these associations may be causal in nature. The health inequity persists throughout the life cycle, but it remains relatively stable, without significant expansion or convergence. To some extent, the research-proposed models enrich the related literature on associations between income and health, and the empirical results suggest that as China moves to the stage of higher incomes and accelerated aging, the Chinese government should pay more attention to income inequality and be alert to the risks of “income-healthy poverty” traps.

Absolute Income, Relative Income, Income Inequality, and Mortality

2004 ◽  
Vol XXXIX (1) ◽  
pp. 228-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf-G. Gerdtham ◽  
Magnus Johannesson
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Absolute Income

Income Inequality and Health: Panel Data Evidence from Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 927-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Latif
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Theil Index ◽  
Mean Deviation ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Current Health ◽  
Current Health Status ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

AbstractUsing longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Survey (1994–2006), this study examines the impact of income inequality on current health outcomes. The result suggests that once unobserved individual specific heterogeneity is controlled for, income inequality as measured by Gini Coefficient has no significant impact on current health status. This result holds true for contemporaneous income inequality as well as for lagged income inequalities. There are mixed results from the robustness check using various measures of income inequality. Decile Ratio (90P/10P) and Coefficient of Variation have no impacts on current health status. On the other hand, contemporaneous income inequality measured by Log Mean Deviation and Theil Index have significant negative effects on current health. All of the models suggest that absolute income has a significant positive effect on health status

Absolute Income, Relative Income, Income Inequality, and Mortality

2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf-G. Gerdtham ◽  
Magnus Johannesson
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Absolute Income

The role of family absolute and relative income in suicide among Chinese rural young adults: mediation effects of social support and coping strain

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Zhou ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Dwight A Hennessy
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Mediating Factors ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background suicide is a major public health issue in China. However, research on the impact of absolute and relative economic stats on suicide is scarce among the Chinese population, particularly rural young adults. Using a case-control psychological autopsy study design, we aimed to investigate the effect of family absolute and relative income on suicide among Chinese rural young adults and to further explore the potential mediating mechanism under these associations. Method the information of 393 suicide cases and 416 community living controls were collected for this study. A Binary Choice Model was used to analyze the association between family absolute and relative income and suicide risk, as well as potential mediating factors for these associations. Results a much stronger association was found between relative income and suicide than between absolute income and suicide. Social support was a dominant mediator for the association between family relative income and suicide among both female and male young adults. Coping strain emerged as a mediating factor within the link between absolute income and suicide for males. Conclusions public health interventions to reduce suicide should pay more attention to relative income in addition to absolute income as potential targets for intervention, and how social support and coping strain act as mediating factors.

Understanding Rising Income Inequality and Stagnating Ordinary Living Standards in Germany

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Bosch ◽  
Thorsten Kalina
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes have evolved in Germany through the period from the 1980s, through reunification, up to the economic Crisis and its aftermath. It brings out how reunification was associated with a prolonged stagnation in real wages. It emphasizes how the distinctive German structures for wage bargaining were eroded over time, and the labour market and tax/transfer reforms of the late 1990s-early/mid-2000s led to increasing dualization in the labour market. The consequence was a marked increase in household income inequality, which went together with wage stagnation for much of the 1990s and subsequently. Coordination between government, employers, and unions still sufficed to avoid the impact the economic Crisis had on unemployment elsewhere, but the German social model has been altered fundamentally over the period

scholarly journals Income Distribution in Turkey during the Global Financial Crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Sinem Sefil-Tansever
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Income Source ◽  
Labor Earnings ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Gini Decomposition ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Earning Inequality

The aim of this study is to examine mechanism responsible for the behavior of the income and earning inequality in Turkey during the global financial crisis based on data from the 2006 to 2014 Income and Living Conditions Survey. Gini decomposition by income source is employed in order to provide an analysis of the contribution of the various income sources to the evolution of income inequality and to assess the impact of a marginal percentage change in the income from a particular source on income inequality. For examining the contributions of specific variables (education, position in occupation, economic sector) to the interpretation of labor earnings inequality in terms of their gross and marginal contribution, we use static decomposition of Theil T index.

Size, Correlates and Consumption Patterns of the Middle Class: Evidence from Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110204
Author(s):  
Masood Ur Rehman ◽  
Sameen Zafar ◽  
Rafi Amir-ud-Din
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Relative Income ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Asset Ownership ◽  
Urban Residence ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
Absolute Income ◽  
Agricultural Employment

Using three definitions of the middle class (MC) and the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement surveys from 2004 to 2014, we estimated the size of the MC and examined the correlates and consumption patterns of the MC for Pakistan. According to the absolute income, relative income and asset–ownership definitions, the MC grew by 16%, 8%, and 10%, respectively, from 2004 to 2014. The results of the biprobit model showed that the probability of entering the MC was associated with higher education, urban residence and non-agricultural employment. Additionally, the MC was associated with greater consumption of ordinary and luxury goods.

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