Reconsidering the relationship between health and income in the UK

Rosen Chowdhury; Steve Cook; Duncan Watson

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116094

Reconsidering the relationship between health and income in the UK

Soc Sci Med. 2023 Sep:332:116094. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116094. Epub 2023 Jul 19.

Authors

Rosen Chowdhury¹, Steve Cook², Duncan Watson³

Affiliations

¹ School of Social Sciences, Swansea University, United Kingdom. Electronic address: r.a.chowdhury@swan.ac.uk.
² School of Social Sciences, Swansea University, United Kingdom. Electronic address: s.cook@swan.ac.uk.
³ School of Economics, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Electronic address: duncan.watson@uea.ac.uk.

PMID: 37499482
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116094

Abstract

The present paper revisits and extends the examination of the long-run relationship between UK life expectancy and income provided by Tapia Granados (2012). Adopting a more detailed form of analysis, a clear break corresponding to the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic is identified in the long span of data examined. This finding of structural change, along with detected uncertainty regarding the orders of integration of the series examined, results in the application of split-sample analysis employing autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling. The results obtained reverse the 'no long-run relationship' conclusion of Tapia Granados (2012) with overwhelming evidence presented in support of a negative relationship between life expectancy and income. Our findings add to both health-income research and a burgeoning literature on the reproduction and replication of previously published empirical research.

Keywords: Cointegration; Income; Life expectancy; Structural change.

MeSH terms

Carbon Dioxide* / analysis
Carbon Dioxide* / chemistry
Economic Development*
Humans
Income
Life Expectancy
United Kingdom / epidemiology

Substances

Carbon Dioxide