Premium
Inequality in life expectancies across Europe and the US
Author(s) -
Boháček Radim,
Bueren Jesús,
Crespo Laura,
Mira Pedro,
PijoanMas Josep
Publication year - 2021
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.4284
Subject(s) - life expectancy , counterfactual thinking , inequality , demography , demographic economics , panel data , economics , psychology , econometrics , sociology , social psychology , mathematics , population , mathematical analysis
We use harmonized household panel data from Europe and the US and a three‐state survival model to provide comparable measurements of education and gender inequalities in total, healthy, and unhealthy life expectancies at age 50. Common across countries, the education advantage in total life expectancy is larger for males but the education advantage in (fewer) unhealthy years is larger for females. Counterfactual decompositions show that these results arise because the education advantage in conditional survival rates is relatively more important for males, while the education advantage in better health transitions is relatively more important for females. Across countries, the US stands out with the largest education gradient in healthy life expectancy.