Income inequality does not predict poor health as much in more egalitarian countries
Income inequality is a strong predictor of poor health because it is about being made to feel poor, but the relationship between income inequality and poor health doesnāt seem to be universal. Note how flat the curve is for Canadaāmoreover, you donāt find it when considering adults throughout Western Europe, particularly in countries with well-established social welfare systems like Denmark. In other words, you probably canāt pick up this effect when comparing individual parishes in Copenhagen because the overall pattern is so egalitarian in a place like that. But itās a reasonably robust relationship in the United Kingdom, while the flagship for the health/income inequality relationship is the United States, where the top 1 percent of the SES ladder controls nearly 40 percent of the wealth, and itās a huge effect (and persists even after controlling for race).
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2004). Why Zebras Donāt Get Ulcers Chapter 17. The View from the Bottom (p. 526). New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
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Type:š“ Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Psychology / Neuropsychology / Social Psychology /Medicine / Politics / Economics Status:āļø