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HEALTHY MINDS IN HEALTHY BODIES: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF EDUCATION‐RELATED INEQUALITY IN PHYSICAL HEALTH AMONG OLDER ADULTS
Author(s) -
Jürges Hendrik
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
scottish journal of political economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1467-9485
pISSN - 0036-9292
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9485.2009.00485.x
Subject(s) - inequality , health equity , demographic economics , equity (law) , health education , ageing , economics , gerontology , economic growth , political science , health care , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics , law
We study education‐related inequality in the physical health of older adults across 11 European countries and the United States. Combining the data from Health and Retirement Study 2002, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing 2002 and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe 2004, our results suggest that education is strongly correlated with health both across and within countries. Education‐related inequality in health is larger in Mediterranean and Anglo‐Saxon countries than in western European countries. We find no evidence of a trade‐off between health levels and equity in health. Education‐related inequality in health is hardly driven by income or wealth effects (except in the United States), and differences in health behaviours (smoking) by education level contribute little to health differences across education groups.