Introduction Health economics is a relatively young sub discipline, and the measurement of inequalities in the health domain has only relatively recently received attention from health economists. Nevertheless, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the topic has a very long history outside health economics, in particular in public health, demography, sociology, and epidemiology. The notion of a ‘gradient
Introduction Health inequality can be defined as variations in health status across individuals within a population. To compare inequalities between countries or over time periods, it may be, for example, interesting to know how much more healthy the healthier individuals are than the unhealthy individuals. However, it may be more interesting to know how health
In the course of development, few processes are as intertwined with economic growth as human capital accumulation. Schooling makes workers more productive, speeds the development of new technologies, and better equips parents to raise skilled children, all of which promote economic growth. Growth, in turn, incentivizes investment in human capital. Causal links point in every
Background Normative Context In recent years, the concept of inequality of opportunity, rather than inequality of achieved states, has received growing attention in the economic literature. The simple advocacy of equal health, for example, fails to hold individuals accountable for their choices. This can be seen as significant limitation. Equality of opportunity co-opts one of
Being efficient means ‘doing something well without wasting time or energy.’ To economists, efficiency is a relationship between ends and means. What is important to note is that economists refer to the relationship between the value of the ends and means, not physical quantities. In economic terms, the value of using resources is equivalent to
In their seminal 1965 study, Kitagawa and Hauser documented that mortality in the US fell with education. Since then a very large number of studies have confirmed that the well-educated enjoy longer lives: for example, in 1980, individuals with some college education at the age of 25 years could expect to live another 54.4 years
/ Health Effects of Illegal Drug Use Introduction The potential health risks associated with using illicit drugs remain the key argument for maintaining their criminal status. And although many studies find that drug users are in worse health than nonusers, the proper interpretation of this evidence is contentious. This is because, in order to conclude
/ Intergenerational Effects On Health Introduction Today an understanding of health is not complete without considering the role of in utero and intergenerational effects. The recent popularity of the fetal origins hypothesis, asserting that early life influences through the fetal environment (e.g., nutritional deprivation) have latent long-run effects on health, has nudged economists to think
Introduction The first evidence of mortality being procyclical had been provided by Ogburn and Thomas during the 1920s – procyclical means increasing in good economic times and falling during periods of decline. Additional confirmatory analysis was supplied by Eyer during the 1970s. Nevertheless, until the preceding decade, the conventional wisdom was that health and macroeconomic
Introduction Mental illness is a common occurrence. Epidemiological evidence reveals that mental disorders are prevalent across more- and less-economically developed countries (WHO World Mental Health Consortium, 2004), and some mental health problems have been understood as being an illness since the time of Hippocrates. Mental disorders are known to have major consequences for longevity, quality