There's more to life than money: Exploring the levels/growth paradox in income and health
✍ Scribed by Charles Kenny
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 128 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0954-1748
- DOI
- 10.1002/jid.1499
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
This paper discusses historical and recent cross‐country evidence relating income to measures of health. After a review of the literature on income and the quality of life, the paper looks at long‐term historical evidence on the link between income change and health indicators. Using data on life expectancy, infant mortality and income for a small subset of largely wealthy countries over the 1913–1999 period, the paper examines correlations between income and health at period start and end as well as using the growth of the variables. Using a larger set of data over the period 1975–2000, the paper repeats these tests, as well as looking for any evidence of a larger impact of income, when different data are used or the sample is split. Results suggest a strong cross‐country link between income and health and considerable evidence of global improvements over time, but a comparatively weak relationship between improvements in income and improvements in health, even over the very long term. The paper discusses a model based on technology and institutions that might account for such results as well as some preliminary evidence in favour of such a model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.