A Theory of Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Over the Life Cycle

Titus Galama and Hans van Kippersluis

No WR-773, Working Papers from RAND Corporation

Abstract: Understanding of the substantial disparity in health between low and high socioeconomic status (SES) groups is hampered by the lack of a sufficiently comprehensive theoretical framework to interpret empirical facts and to predict yet untested relations. The authors present a life-cycle model that incorporates multiple mechanisms explaining (jointly) a large part of the observed disparities in health by SES. In their model, lifestyle factors, working conditions, retirement, living conditions and curative care are mechanisms through which SES, health and mortality are related. Their model predicts a widening and possibly a subsequent narrowing with age of the gradient in health by SES.

Keywords: socioeconomic status; education; health; demand for health; health capital; medical care; life cycle; age; labor; retirement; mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I10 I12 J00 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50
Date: 2010-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Related works:
Journal Article: A Theory of Socio-economic Disparities in Health over the Life Cycle (2019)
Working Paper: A Theory of Socioeconomic Disparities in Health over the Life Cycle (2010)
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