Well being and wealth – Healthcare Economist

Are wealthier folks more healthy? In that case, how robust is that this relationship? Does IT range throughout nations?

That’s what a paper by Kyriopoulos et al. 2024 goals to reply. They measure Health and wealth utilizing a “focus index” (CI) which is calculated as follows:

CI is estimated just about the focus curve, which illustrates the cumulative share of a Health standing variable in relation to the cumulative share of the inhabitants, with people ranked from the least rich to the wealthiest. Particularly, CI is twice the realm between the focus curve and the 45-degree line of equality, with zero values reflecting the absence of socioeconomic inequality in Health. Opposite to the Gini index, CI quantifies inequality in a single variable (i.e., Health) primarily based on its rating relative to a different (i.e., socioeconomic measure). A constructive CI denotes that heath is extra concentrated amongst wealthiest people, with greater index values reflecting larger ranges of pro-rich inequality.

The precise model of CI used comes from Wagstaff 2005. Wealth is measured utilizing non-housing wealth (though a sensitivity evaluation makes use of complete wealth together with housing) and Health is measured utilizing self-reported Health standing on a 5-point scale (i.e., poor, honest, good, excellent, wonderful). To estimate CI, they use information from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) within the US and Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in Europe.

Utilizing this method, they discover:

…proof of wealth-related inequalities in self-reported Health standing throughout a number of high-income nations, with the US demonstrating greater ranges of inequality than its European counterparts. The magnitude of those inequalities with respect to wealth remained unchanged over the examine interval throughout all nations. 

You may learn the total paper here.