Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/278962 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16264
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Wildman (2021), who identifies "a clear association between income inequality [measured by the Gini coefficient] and COVID-19 cases and deaths," concludes that "a goal of government should be to reduce [income] inequalities and [thereby] improve [the COVID-19 outcomes /] underlying health of their populations." In this Comment, we argue that reducing the Gini coefficient of the income distribution of a population need not weaken the population's social stress. It is this stress which is a source of adverse health outcomes of the population. Because a measure of this stress is a component of the Gini coefficient, reducing the coefficient can leave the measure as is, or even increase the measure.
Subjects: 
social stress
Gini coefficient
income inequality
forming public health policy
JEL: 
D01
D63
D91
I10
I14
I31
Z18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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