Income Inequality and Population Health : Recent Clues Concerning Pathways and Mechanisms(Symposium B)

• 河内 一郎

  Harvard University

• 藤澤 由和

  University of Shizuoka

• 高尾 総司

  Okayama University

抄録

Income inequality has been implicated as a determinant of population health. Empirical evidence suggests that higher levels of income inequality are associated with worse health outcomes in the population. The pathways linking income inequality to population health remain to be established. However, recent findings from economics provide some clues concerning the mechanisms by which the distribution of income may influence health status. According to one theory, higher levels of income inequality may increase the frequency of invidious social comparisons and heighten the sense of relative deprivation. Recent empirical studies suggest that higher degrees of relative deprivation, as quantified by the Yitzhaki Index, is associated with increased risks of morbidity, mortality, and stress-related health behaviors. A separate theory suggests that increased income inequality erodes the sense of trust and cooperation, and reduces the ability of societies to undertake collective action, such as financing social goods. Recent evidence from experimental economics, using game theory, appears to corroborate this theory. Empirical studies in Japan so far have failed to demonstrate an association between income distribution and population health. On the other hand, it may be too early to conclude that income inequality does not matter for the health of Japanese because of the continuing increases in income inequality between geographic areas of the country, as well as other trends such growing educational inequalities, and the widening disparity in working conditions between full-time workers and part-time, temporary, and contingent workers.

収録刊行物

• 保健医療社会学論集

  保健医療社会学論集 18 (2), 29-35, 2008

  日本保健医療社会学会

キーワード

• income inequality
• relative deprivation
• Yitzhaki Index
• experimental economics
• trust games
• social capital

詳細情報

• CRID: 1390001204480977280
• NII論文ID: 110009863678
• DOI: 10.18918/jshms.18.2_29
• ISSN: 21898642
• ISSN: 13430203
• 本文言語コード: en
• データソース種別:
  • JaLC
  • CiNii Articles
• 抄録ライセンスフラグ: 使用不可