Session: What Influences Health?
Room: Hollister McManus Lounge
Time: Mon 10:15-11:45

Presenter: Tinna Laufey Asgeirsdottir (University of Iceland. Economics)

Discussant: Lori CurtisUniversity of Waterloo

Abstract

The aim of publicly-provided health care is twofold. First, some argue that health itself is a worthwhile production form a societal perspective due to externalities. The second reason concerns equality. It is not simply the idea to decrease variation in health, but rather, to decrease variation in health by socio-economic status. Those two goals have traditionally been analyzed separately. However, a statistical measurement containing information on both the level of a variable and its distribution is available. This measure, the absolute concentration index, has not been examined in the context of health. It is important in that context as it captures information about the two main goals of publicly-provided health production simultaneously. This study examines the determinants of health and systematic variations in health by income. The research question can be stated as follows: What are the social and institutional determinants of health and income-related health variations? First, measures of the absolute concentration index are calculated using EU-SILC data. Subsequently, they are used in cross-country comparisons with respect to other aggregate measures. The production of health and the mitigation of the health-income relationship has been the focus of large-scale government expenditures in many countries. How this dual goal is best obtained is a question still to be pondered and the scale of the expenditures involved, leaves it a fiscally important subject.

Key Terms

Health, Income, Inequality, Concentration

Authors:

Tinna Laufey Asgeirsdottir (University of Iceland. Economics)