Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/156288 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Discussion Papers No. 2017-12
Publisher: 
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), Kiel
Abstract: 
What effect does rising income inequality have on mortality rates in developed countries? In particular, does the rise of the super-wealthy or the top 0.01% of the population effect overall health of the population? This paper focuses on the effect of rising income inequality on mortality rates of men and women in a subset of OECD countries over six decades from 1950-2008. The authors used adult mortality as the outcome measure and the inverted Pareto-Lorenz coefficient as the preferred measure of income inequality and obtained the latest and precise data on the income inequality measure. They used a panel co-integration econometric framework to address some of the challenges posed by more conventional methods. The findings show that for industrialized countries with co-integrated series, income inequality appears to have a long-run significant negative effect on mortality risk for both men and women, that is, an increase in income inequality does not appear to lower annualized adult mortality rates.
Subjects: 
income inequality
mortality
health
panel co-integration
JEL: 
I1
C1
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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