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Health Inequality

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM (EST)

Hosted By: Association for Social Economics
  • Chair: Guido Erreygers, University of Antwerp

Measuring Global Health Poverty

Philip Clarke
,
University of Oxford
Guido Erreygers
,
University of Antwerp
Laurence Roope
,
University of Oxford
Maryline Van Hellemont
,
University of Antwerp

Abstract

Health poverty is a relatively new concept that, to date, has only been measured within countries. This paper explores how health poverty can be measured across countries. The basic idea is to measure global health poverty using country-level mortality data derived from life-tables. A country will be considered health poor if, up to a given age (e.g. 60 years), the mean number of life-years per individual is smaller than that in a reference country. The greater the shortfall in a country’s mean life-years relative to the reference country, the greater its health poverty gap is considered to be. Global health poverty is then calculated using the population-weighted Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty index, which is defined over the health poverty gaps and includes an inequality aversion parameter. Assuming different values of this parameter, we apply the FGT measure to estimate the evolution of global health poverty using the WHO Global Health Observatory data repository. Life-table data for 182 countries allow us to obtain robust estimates of the trends in global health poverty for the period 2000-2019. Making use of the additive decomposability property of the index we are also able to decompose the index according to income level and geographical location. Like global income poverty, global health poverty is found to have declined substantially throughout 2000-2019. Global health and income poverty also display similar patterns. With some exceptions, there has generally been convergence in both health and income poverty levels, between regional country groups and between income groups.

Aversion to Health Inequality, Correlation and Causation

Owen O’Donnell
,
Erasmus University
Matthew Robson
,
University of York
Tom Van Ourti
,
Erasmus University

Abstract

We introduce a novel experiment that disentangles aversion to health inequality from aversion to health correlation, and that allows the latter aversion to be more intense when the correlation is causally determined. The experiment is a modified dictator game in which participants allocate resources that differentially impact recipients' health. In separate treatments, recipients are 1) anonymous, 2) identified by income, and 3) identified by income that causes health. These treatments identify parameters that determine aversion to 1) health inequality, 2) income-related health inequality, and 3) income-caused health inequality, respectively. In a student sample, we find aversion to health inequality that is lower than most previous estimates. On average, there is aversion to positive health-income correlation that intensifies when low income causes worse health. An income-rank-dependent social welfare function that respects relative invariance fits the data slightly better than one that respects absolute invariance, and both fit much better than a model in which health consequences of resource allocations are ignored.
JEL Classifications
  • I1 - Health
  • D6 - Welfare Economics