MUTUAL INFLUENCES OF HEALTH AND POVERTY - EVIDENCE FROM GERMAN PANEL-DATA

While a large body of literature is concerned with the interplay of he alth and poverty in developing countries, comparable studies for devel oped countries are rare. Using data drawn from the German Socio-Econom ic Panel (GSOEP), this paper investigates the relationships between ch anges in relative income poverty, income changes and health-related qu ality of life in Germany, i.e. in an environment with nominally equal access to medical care, education and social security. A fundamental f ive-dimensional health concept is introduced and tested for its empiri cal performance. The background of the causal analysis is formed by tw o hypotheses, one regarding low income as a possible cause for poor he alth (prevention hypothesis) and the other assuming the opposite causa l direction (deprivation hypothesis). By means of a descriptive analys is and a structural equations model, the existence of a more complex r elational web between health and poverty is demonstrated. (C) 1997 Els evier Science Ltd.