Neo-materialist theory and the temporal relationship between income inequality and longevity change

Andrew Clarkwest

Social Science & Medicine, 2008, vol. 66, issue 9, 1871-1881

Abstract: This study uses a neo-materialist perspective to develop theoretical predictions regarding temporal ties between income inequality and change in population health. The argument focuses on the relationship between income inequality and adoption of longevity-enhancing innovations. It asserts that longevity change should be influenced by preexisting levels of income inequality and that, consequently, income inequality can cause differential longevity improvement across jurisdictions even if inequality levels remain unchanged. State-level U.S. data from 1970 to 2000 are used to jointly model the effects of initial levels and change in income inequality on 10-year life expectancy change. Results confirm that states with higher levels of inequality experienced less subsequent improvement in life expectancy. Contrary to findings from prior research, analyses also reveal a strong negative association between change in inequality and change in longevity once initial levels of inequality and other state characteristics are controlled. Finally, direct tests of the relationship between income inequality and the adoption of innovations in quality of medical care indicate that the two are highly related and that differences in the average quality of care can account for the negative cross-sectional association between income inequality and life expectancy.

Keywords: USA; Income; inequality; Longevity; Wilkinson; hypothesis; Health; determinants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(07)00691-0
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:9:p:1871-1881

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().