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POLARIZATION AND HEALTH
Author(s) -
Pérez Cristina Blanco,
Ramos Xavier
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4991.2009.00368.x
Subject(s) - polarization (electrochemistry) , inequality , demographic economics , economics , economic inequality , population health , population , econometrics , health care , sociology , demography , economic growth , mathematics , mathematical analysis , chemistry
This paper examines the effect of income polarization on individual health. We argue that polarization captures much better the social tension and conflict that underlie some of the pathways linking income disparities and individual health, and which have been traditionally proxied by inequality. We test our premises with panel data for Spain. Results show that polarization has a detrimental effect on health. We also find that the way the relevant population subgroups are defined is important: polarization is only significant if measured between education‐age groups for each region. Regional polarization is not significant. Our results are obtained conditional on a comprehensive set of controls, including absolute and relative income.