Aversion to Health Inequality - Pure, Income-Related and Income-Caused

Matthew Robson (), Owen O’Donnell and Tom Van Ourti
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Owen O’Donnell: Erasmus University Rotterdam

No 23-019/V, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: We design a novel experiment to identify aversion to pure (univariate) health inequality separately from aversion to income-related and income-caused health inequality. Participants allocate resources to determine health of individuals. Identification comes from random variation in resource productivity and in information on income and its causal effect. We gather data (26,286 observations) from a UK representative sample (n=337) and estimate pooled and participant-specific social preferences while accounting for noise. The median person has strong aversion to pure health inequality, challenging the health maximisation objective of economic evaluation. Aversion to health inequality is even stronger when it is related to income. However, the median person prioritises health of poorer individuals less than is assumed in the standard measure of income-related health inequality. On average, aversion to that inequality does not become stronger when low income is known to cause ill-health. There is substantial heterogeneity in all three types of inequality aversion

Keywords: Inequality Aversion; Social Preferences; Health; Income; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D30 D63 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-04-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hea and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Aversion to health inequality — Pure, income-related and income-caused (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230019

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