Does National Income Inequality Affect Individuals’ Quality of Life in Europe? Inequality, Happiness, Finances, and Health

Zagórski, Krzysztof; Evans, Mdr; Kelley, Jonathan; Piotrowska, Katarzyna

doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0390-z

Cited by 121 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Four studies were conducted in the USA, 13 in Europe and 12 studies were conducted elsewhere (see Table 1 Multiple instruments were used to measure health status and happiness /life satisfaction. For health status, single items with 4 point Likert scales tended to be used in studies targeting general population at the national 15 or regional level [25][26][27] .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How strongly related are health status and subjective well-being? Systematic review and meta-analysis

Ngamaba

Panagioti

Armitage

2017

European Journal of Public Health

222

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How strongly related are health status and subjective well-being? Systematic review and meta-analysis

Ngamaba

Panagioti

Armitage

2017

European Journal of Public Health

222

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“…For example, income inequality has been proven to both increase and decrease overall subjective well-being and its financial domain. (Gori-Maia 2013;Rözer and Kraaykamp 2013;Zagorski et al 2014;Verme 2011). The effect of income inequality may first be explained with its rise within the population, which signals mobility also for the individual in the future, and therefore leading to increasing satisfaction (HirchmanRothschild-mechanism) or secondly, with its rise in relation to a self-selected population group increasing relative deprivation and worsening life satisfaction (the RuncimanYitzhaki-mechanism).…”

Section: The Role Of Comparison In Subjective Economic Well-being Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…different population groups having different perceptions of inequality due to cultural and other factors, and the inclusion of specific control variables into the analysis (Verme 2011). An example of the latter can be seen in a study by Zagorski et al (2014), which showed that unequal distribution of income did not reduce subjective well-being or perceived income adequacy in Europe when controlling for GDP as an indicator of poverty. The importance of taking into account the level of national economic development is further stressed with the result of Berthoud (2012), showing European households in countries with low average incomes being less likely to report subjective financial strain than households with similar incomes in countries with high average incomes.…”

Section: The Role Of Comparison In Subjective Economic Well-being Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through these types of analyses, researchers with multi-fold research setups have made conclusions on whether populations of different geographical areas work as reference groups for people. (Zagorski et al 2014;Berthoud 2012). It thus seems essential to also take into account the relative income positions of population groups of interest within countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reference Groups and Pensioners’ Subjective Economic Well-Being in Europe

Palomäki

2016

Soc Indic Res

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This study contributes to the interdisciplinary debate over the effects of absolute and relative income on subjective well-being by introducing country-level measures of income into the analysis of pensioners' economic well-being. Both the relevance of alternative reference groups for different phases of old age, measured through median incomes, and the effect of general income inequality within countries are explored. Analyses are based on the cross-sectional components of the survey European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions from 2005 to 2011, containing information on 458,769 pensioners from 31 European countries. With the multilevel linear regression analysis method, the effects of different income measures are analyzed both at the individual and country levels. The main result shows that the average income level of pensioners within countries hold spillover effects strong enough to conclude other pensioners constitute a relevant reference point. Pensioners' high income level decreases individual income adequacy regardless of age. Results also indicated the labour market group having varying effects on different age groups. The general income inequality does not affect pensioners' subjective economic well-being.

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“…Wilkinson and various other authors have made strong statements in favour of the IIH (Kawachi and Kennedy 1999;Wilkinson andPickett 2006, 2009). Other authors are not as convinced by this relationship (e.g., Präg et al 2014;Qi 2012;Zagorski et al 2014). One possible reason for this controversy is that the relationship has been investigated with a wide variety of methods, which may allow for different results and answers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Income Inequality Hypothesis Revisited: Assessing the Hypothesis Using Four Methodological Approaches

Kragten

Rözer

2016

Soc Indic Res

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The income inequality hypothesis states that income inequality has a negative effect on individual's health, partially because it reduces social trust. This article aims to critically assess the income inequality hypothesis by comparing several analytical strategies, namely OLS regression, multilevel regression, fixed effects models and fixed effects models using pseudo panel data. To test the hypothesis, data from two studies conducted between 1981 and 2014 were combined: the World Values Survey and the European Values Study. Three frequently used measures of health were taken into account. In the OLS and multilevel models, income inequality was often associated with better health, whereas in the fixed effects and pseudo panel data, income inequality was associated with poorer health, suggesting that the unexpected results of the OLS and multilevel methods might be explained by unobserved confounders. Furthermore, in almost all of the models, social trust mediates the relationship between income inequality and health, showing the importance of this mechanism. Interestingly, the pseudo panel data offer the strongest support for the income inequality hypothesis, suggesting that better controlling for confounding factors and/or more carefully monitoring cohort effects, may result in a better understanding whether and how income inequality can be harmful for people's health.

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Does National Income Inequality Affect Individuals’ Quality of Life in Europe? Inequality, Happiness, Finances, and Health

Cited by 121 publications

References 56 publications

How strongly related are health status and subjective well-being? Systematic review and meta-analysis

How strongly related are health status and subjective well-being? Systematic review and meta-analysis

Reference Groups and Pensioners’ Subjective Economic Well-Being in Europe

The Income Inequality Hypothesis Revisited: Assessing the Hypothesis Using Four Methodological Approaches

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