Effect of Income Inequality on Health Status in a Selection of Middle and Low Income Countries

Abstract

The relationship between the public health status and income inequality has been taken into consideration in the last two decades. One of the important questions in this regard is that whether the changes in income inequality will lead to changes in health indicators or not. To answer this question, life expectancy is used as a health indicator and the Gini coefficient is used as an income inequality indicator. In this study, the relationship between income inequality and the public health has been investigated by panel data in Eviews software during [2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010][2011] in 65 low-and middle-income countries. By using panel data and considering fixed effects and heterogeneity of sections, the relationship between income inequality and public health status is a significant negative relationship.

FARKLI GELİR GRUBUNA SAHİP ÜLKELERDE YAŞAM SEVİYESİNİ ETKİLEYEN FAKTÖRLERİN KARŞILAŞTIRILMASI / Comparison Of Factors Affecting The Level Of Living In Countries With Different Income Groups

“…examined, it is seen that the increase in health expenditures has an increasing effect on life expectancy in line with the panel results. Similar results were obtained in previous studies (Teker et al 2012;Hajebi and Javad Razmi, 2014;Şahin, 2018;Aydın, 2020). A 1% increase in health expenditures in high-income countries increases life expectancy the most in France by 0.111%, while in uppermiddle-income countries it increases life expectancy by 0.121% in South Africa and 0.076% in low-income countries in Nigeria.…”

Income Inequality and Population Health: A Global Gradient?

“…However, even these suggestive results are mixed. When only low- and middle-income countries are considered in the analysis, the results illustrate either a positive relationship (e.g., Pulok 2012) or a negative one (e.g., Hajebi and Razmi 2014). Pop et al (2013) find conflicting results in a hybrid model where Gini enters as both a country-mean and a country-mean-deviated covariate.…”

“…Thus, one might expect to observe no effect in studies that combine countries at various levels of economic development (e.g., Babones 2008; Beckfield 2004; Gravelle et al 2002). Depending on how the effect of inequality varies by development, one might expect to observe positive, negative, or null effects in studies that focus on countries at particular levels of development (e.g., Hajebi and Razmi 2014; Herzer and Nunnencamp 2015; Torre and Myrskylä 2014). Therefore, a crucial part of the story may be that a country’s economic resources impact the relationship between inequality and health.…”

“…Others divide the sample into three components: low-income, middle-income, or high-income countries (Pop et al 2013). Still others estimate regressions on samples of low- and middle-income countries (Hajebi and Razmi 2014; Pulok 2012) or on samples of high-income countries (Beckfield 2004; Torre and Myrskylä 2014). Results vary considerably across these classificatory systems.…”

Determinantes socioeconômicos e demográficos na assistência à fratura de fêmur em idosos

“…The richest countries have higher life expectancy in comparison to the poorest ones. This shows the benefits of economic growth on health [38][39][40] .…”