Covid-19 and Income Inequality in OECD Countries: A Methodological Comment

Oded Stark

No 16264, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Wildman (2021), who identifies "a clear association between income inequality [measured by the Gini coefficient] and COVID-19 cases and deaths," concludes that "a goal of government should be to reduce [income] inequalities and [thereby] improve [the COVID-19 outcomes /] underlying health of their populations." In this Comment, we argue that reducing the Gini coefficient of the income distribution of a population need not weaken the population's social stress. It is this stress which is a source of adverse health outcomes of the population. Because a measure of this stress is a component of the Gini coefficient, reducing the coefficient can leave the measure as is, or even increase the measure.

Keywords: forming public health policy; income inequality; Gini coefficient; social stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D63 D91 I10 I14 I31 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 8 pages
Date: 2023-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Published - published in: European Journal of Health Economics, 2023, 24, 1235–1237

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Journal Article: “COVID-19 and income inequality in OECD countries:” A methodological comment (2023)
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