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Does early-life income inequality predict self-reported health in later life? Evidence from the United States.
- Source :
-
Social science & medicine (1982) [Soc Sci Med] 2015 Mar; Vol. 128, pp. 347-55. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 Dec 24. - Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- We investigate the association between adult health and the income inequality they experienced as children up to 80 years earlier. Our inequality data track shares of national income held by top percentiles from 1913 to 2009. We average those data over the same early-life years and merge them to individual data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data for 1984-2009. Controlling for demographic and economic factors, we find both men and women are statistically more likely to report poorer health if income was more unequally distributed during the first years of their lives. The association is robust to alternative specifications of income inequality and time trends and remains significant even when we control for differences in overall childhood health. Our results constitute prima facie evidence that adults' health may be adversely affected by the income inequality they experienced as children.<br /> (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-5347
- Volume :
- 128
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Social science & medicine (1982)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 25577308
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.12.026