Measurement and determinants of health poverty and richness: evidence from Portugal

Abstract

The analysis of health inequalities is a critical topic for health policy. With data for Portugal, we propose an algorithm to convert information provided by the official National Health Survey to EuroQol. Based on these data we make two contributions. First, we extend measures and methods commonly applied in other fields of economic research in order to quantify the phenomena of health poverty, richness, and inequality. Second, using an ordered probit model, we evaluate the determinants of health inequalities in Portugal. The results show that there is a remarkable level of health inequality, with significant rates of poverty (11.64%) and richness (22.64%). The econometric study reveals that gender, age, education, region of residence, and eating habits are among the most critical determinant factors of health.

The dynamics of health poverty in Spain during the economic crisis (2008–2016)

“…There are some papers which prove that health trends to be worse in those societies with greater income differences [16][17][18]. The studies of Meer et al [19], Buddelmeyer and Cai [20], Ásgeirsdóttir and Ragnarsddóttir [21], Brzezinski [2], Mackenbach et al [22], Simões et al [23] and Ivaldi et al [24] analyse the relationship between poverty and health. The main difference between these papers are the methodology used.…”

“…Ásgeirsdóttir and Ragnarsddóttir [21] calculate the Concentration Index and the Absolute Concentration Index; Brzezinski [2] uses the FGT index; Mackenbach et al [22] and Simões et al [23] propose an ordered probit model; and Ivaldi et al [24] present factor analysis and Pena distance, a non-parametric method and another parametric, respectively.…”

“…According to the area considered, Ásgeirsdóttir and Ragnarsddóttir [21], Mackenbach et al [22] and Ivaldi et al [24] focus their studies on Europe. More specifically, Brzezinski [2] analyse Great Britain while Simões et al [23] do it for Portugal. By Meer et al [19] examine the United States; and Buddelmeyer and Cai [20] analyse the case of Australia.…”

“…In addition, Simões et al [23] assess the determinants of health inequalities, using the National Health Survey. They evaluate poverty, wealth and health inequality.…”

The relationship between health poverty and income poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries: evidence from index correlations

“…Recently the issue of inequality has garnered attention within academic debates about the state of the world (Polus et al 2021). While research on inequalities has traditionally focused on the income aspect of welfare, there is growing interest in exploring the health aspect as well (Allison and Foster 2004;Brzezinski 2015;Madden 2015;Simões et al 2016;Pascual-Sáez et al 2019;Clarke and Erreygers 2020). However, studies that analyse the relationship between inequalities considering both aspects of welfare remain scarce (Bilger et al 2017;Pascual-Sáez et al 2019).…”