Premium
Modelling socioeconomic and health determinants of health‐care use: a semiparametric approach
Author(s) -
Maurer Jürgen
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.1253
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , bivariate analysis , health care , nonparametric statistics , index (typography) , health equity , parametric statistics , econometrics , grasp , medicine , actuarial science , environmental health , computer science , statistics , economics , mathematics , economic growth , population , world wide web , programming language
This paper suggests bivariate semiparametric index models as a tool for modelling the interplay of socioeconomic and health characteristics in determining health‐care utilisation. These models allow for a fully nonparametric relationship between socioeconomic status, health‐care need and care utilisation. The only parametric restriction imposed is that multiple socioeconomic and health indicators can be aggregated into two distinct indices that measure the broader concepts of socioeconomic status and health‐care need, respectively. We demonstrate the usefulness of this class of models based on an illustrative empirical example. The estimations highlight complex interactions of socioeconomic status and health‐care need in determining care use, which may be difficult to grasp via standard parametric modelling approaches. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.