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Do Education and Income Really Explain Inequalities in Health? Applying a Twin Design
Author(s) -
Gerdtham U.G.,
Lundborg P.,
Lyttkens C. H.,
Nystedt P.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/sjoe.12130
Subject(s) - ordinary least squares , economics , inequality , economic inequality , demographic economics , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , sample (material) , income distribution , econometrics , labour economics , mathematics , biology , genetics , mathematical analysis , chemistry , chromatography , gene
Abstract We apply a twin design to examine the relationship between health and education and income. The estimated associations between health and education and income, controlling for unobserved endowments, at the twin‐pair level, are lower than estimates obtained via ordinary least‐squares (OLS) on the same sample. Thus, OLS‐based effects of education and income are biased, exaggerating the contribution of education and income to health inequality. The main part of health inequality is explained by within‐twin‐pair fixed effects, incorporating family background and genetic inheritance. It appears that education and income policies have less to offer for reducing health inequality than is usually assumed.