scholarly journals Does rising income inequality affect mortality rates in advanced economies?

Author(s):  
Mayvis Rebeira ◽  
Paul Grootendorst ◽  
Peter C. Coyte ◽  
Victor Aguirregabiria
2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e16089-e16089
Author(s):  
Jean Henri Schoueri ◽  
Luis Eduardo Werneck De Carvalho ◽  
Isabella Batista Martins Portugal ◽  
Manuela de Almeida Roediger ◽  
Edige Felipe de Sousa Santos ◽  
...  

e16089 Background: There are substantial disparities in esophageal cancer mortality across different social groups, including sex, race/ethnicity, geographical location and socio-economic status. Methods: This is an ecological study with secondary data from 2016 to 2018 that evaluated the effects of income-inequality and number of doctors per inhabitant on esophageal cancer mortality in Brazil and its Federative Units. The amount of deaths and the overall number of doctors were obtained from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System. Mortality was estimated per 100,000 individuals and age-standardized through the World Health Organization’s population, whereas the rate of doctor per inhabitant was calculated per 1,000 inhabitants. Income-Inequality was measured by the Gini index, obtained from the United Nations Development Programme. Linear regression was performed by the stepwise backward method. Results: Sex, Gini index values and oncology surgeons were all related to lower mortality rates (p < 0.05), whereas clinical oncologists and general surgeons were both associated with higher mortality (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Esophageal cancer mortality rates were influenced by both the type and amount of doctors per inhabitant of any given administrative region in Brazil, however there was no association found with regards to income inequality.[Table: see text]


Author(s):  
Arif Widodo

Recent years saw the heated debates among prominent economists on the growinginequality in advanced economies, and accordingly, many solutions to this seriousproblem have been put forward. Among the practical-cum-workable solution isprogressive taxation for wealth and income, especially the top one percent. Such asolution, however, has been implemented in Islamic perspective what so-called, zakahwhich is now referred to as social finance. In this paper, using the Gini coefficient datacovering 34 provinces in Indonesia over a decade, we examine whether the role ofsocial finance in tandem with commercial finance can adequately solve the problemof wealth distribution in Indonesia, one of the largest Democratic-Muslim countriesin the world. Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model, the resultsdemonstrated that Islamic commercial finance solely is proven statistically incapable oftackling inequality while the social finance (zakah) is performing very well in this matterover all specifications. Most importantly, when both are incorporated in a model, theresult showed a significant reduction in income inequality implying that the integratedIslamic finance which can be implemented in both Islamic microfinance institution andIslamic banking is more capable, as opposed to when both are separated, of helpingaddress the income inequality problem in Indonesia.


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Antonio Palma-Solís ◽  
Carlos Álvarez-Dardet Díaz ◽  
Álvaro Franco-Giraldo ◽  
Ildefonso Hernández-Aguado ◽  
Santiago Pérez-Hoyos

The aim of this study was to evaluate the worldwide effect of state downsizing policies on achievement of U.N. Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) on infant mortality rates. In an ecological retrospective cohort study of 161 countries, from 1978 to 2002, the authors analyzed changes in government consumption (GC) as determining exposure to achievement of MDG4. Descriptive methods and a multiple logistic regression were applied to adjust for changes in gross domestic product, level of democracy, and income inequality. Excess infant mortality in the exposed countries, attributable to reductions in GC, was estimated. Fifty countries were found to have reduced GC, and 111 had increased GC. The gap in infant mortality rate between these groups of countries doubled in the study period. Non-achievement of MDG4 was associated with reductions in GC and increases in income inequality. The excess infant mortality attributable to GC reductions in the exposed countries from 1990 to 2002 was 4,473,348 deaths. The probability of achieving MDG4 seems to be seriously compromised for many countries because of reduced public sector expenditure during the last 25 years of the 20th century, in response to World Bank/International Monetary Fund Washington Consensus policies. This seeming contradiction between the goals of different U.N. branches may be undermining achievement of MDG4 and should be taken into account when developing future global governance policy.


Economies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Ioanna Konstantakopoulou

In advanced economies, rising inequality has become a significant economic issue. Our paper examines one dimension of the impact of inequality. This study employs panel estimators that tackle heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence to estimate the impact of income inequality on import demand. In addition, we use a Bayesian approach to the cointegrated VAR model as well as a model that allows for stochastic trends and cross-sectional dependence. Annual panel data for the period from 1995 to 2016 on OECD countries are used. The empirical results show that inequality has a positive and significant effect on import demand. The estimation also yields some other expected results, viz. that the income and price elasticity of import demand function are positive and negative, respectively.


Author(s):  
Colin Pritchard ◽  
Richard Williams

Abstract Background: Children’s (0–14 years) mortality rates in the USA and 19 Western countries (WCs) were examined in the context of a nation-specific measure of relative poverty and the Gross Domestic Product Health Expenditure (GDPHE) of countries to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of health care systems “to meet the needs of its children” (UNICEF). Method: World Health Organisation child mortality rates per million were analysed for 1979–1981 and 2003–2005 to determine any significant differences between the USA and the other WCs over these periods. Child mortality rates are correlated with all countries GDPHE and ‘relative poverty’, defined by ‘Income Inequalities’, i.e., the gap between top and bottom 20% of incomes. Findings: Outputs: The mortality rate of every country fell substantially ranging from falls of 46% in the USA to 78% in Portugal. The highest current mortality rates are: USA, 2436 per million (pm), New Zealand 2105 pm, Portugal 1929 pm, Canada 1877 pm and the UK 1834 pm; the lowest are: Japan 1073 pm and Sweden 1075 pm, Finland 1193 pm and Norway 1200 pm. A total of 16 countries rates fell significantly more than the USA over these periods. Inputs: The USA had the greatest GDPHE and widest Income Inequality gap. There was no significant correlation between GDPHE and mortality but highly significant correlations with children’s deaths and income inequalities. The five widest income inequality countries had the six worst rates, the narrowest four had the lowest. Conclusions: Despite major improvements in every WC, based upon financial inputs and child mortality outputs, the USA health care system appears the least efficient and effective in “meeting the needs of its children”.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-47
Author(s):  
Jonathan J. Adams

Abstract Advanced economies undergo three transitions during their development: (1) transition from a rural to an urban economy, (2) transition from low-income growth to high-income growth, (3) transition from high fertility and mortality rates to low modern levels. The timings of these transitions are correlated in the historical development of most advanced economies. I consider a nonlinear model of endogenous long-run economic and demographic change, in which child quantity-quality substitution is driven by declining child mortality. Because the model captures the interactions between all three transitions, it is able to explain three additional empirical patterns: a declining urban-rural wage gap, a declining rural-urban family size ratio, and most surprisingly, that early urbanization slows development. This third prediction distinguishes the model from other theories of long-run growth, and I document evidence for it in cross-country data.


Author(s):  
Danny Dorling

Levels of economic inequality differ extensively when comparisons are made between nation states, although, worldwide, inequalities remain highest in the poorest countries. Yet now even some of the wealthiest nations have markedly high levels of income inequality. This chapter concentrates on illustrating this unprecedented, contemporary transformation in income inequalities towards greater geographical variation between affluent countries. In particular, new data analysis included here uncovers significant idiosyncrasies in the income distributions of the UK and USA, as compared with other wealthy countries. Increasingly robust evidence suggests that high and rising inequalities in a few affluent nations have far-reaching implications, and income inequality should be recognized as a source of extensive negative externalities. These recent developments underscore the need for the subdiscipline of economic geography to focus far more on understanding patterns and changes in income inequality within prosperous nations. Thus far, geographers have largely neglected the subject and its consequences.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 80-90
Author(s):  
Daniel Ribi

Rising income inequality is a pressing political issue in Canada and internationally. Yet, policymakers in advanced economies have thus far failed to meaningfully address the issue. Tax policy is one of the primary tools available for governments to structure local distributive realities, but there is uncertainty regarding the ability of governments to take effective action in a globalized world economy. This policy brief puts forward viable reforms. The Canadian federal government can mitigate income inequality in Canada through targeted corporate and personal income tax reforms and a new approach to compliance enforcement.


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