INCOME INEQUALITY AND POPULATION HEALTH

A number of studies have suggested that inequalities in the distributi on of income may be an important cause of variations in the average le vel of population health among rich industrial nations. However, what is missing from the debate so far is any systematic review of evidence about the relationship between different measures of income distribut ion and indicators of population health. This paper aims to bridge tha t gap. First, it summarizes the recent English language literature on this topic and illustrates the methodological problems that weaken the inferences that can be derived from it. Secondly, it presents new emp irical estimates of the relationship between different measures of inc ome distribution, infant mortality and life expectancy based on the mo st authoritative data published to date. In contrast to most earlier s tudies, we find very little support for the view that income inequalit y is associated with variations in average levels of national health i n rich industrial countries. Some possible explanations for these diff erences are outlined. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.