The relative income hypothesis: does it exist over time? Evidence from the BHPS

Joanne Lindley () and Paula Lorgelly

No 2005013, Working Papers from The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics

Abstract: The relative income hypothesis suggests that income inequality has a detrimental affect on people´s health. This previously well accepted relationship has recently come under scrutiny. Some claim it is a statistical artefact, while others argue that aggregate level data are not sophisticated enough to adequately test for its existence. This paper adds to the debate by estimating the relationship between income inequality and health using panel data. A random effects ordered probit is used to estimate the relationship between net household income, regional income inequality and self-reported health, for 3736 individuals over 9 years, while controlling for individual socioeconomic characteristics like gender, social class and age. Significant differences in income inequality across regions and considerable changes in health are found across years, however, the panel data estimating regressions find no significant association between any of the measures of income inequality and self-reported health. Therefore, it would appear that the relative income hypothesis does not exist over time and does not exist within Britain.

Keywords: Self rated health; income inequalities; random effects ordered probit; BHPS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 I10 I30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2005-06, Revised 2005-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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