Mortality ECON 499: Economics of Inequality Winter 2018 What are - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Dec 30, 2022 386 likes •866 views

Mortality ECON 499: Economics of Inequality Winter 2018 What are the consequences of inequality? Philosophical debates on inequality are hard to resolve Can instead focus on outcomes Does inequality make people worse o ff in an objective way?

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Mortality

ECON 499: Economics of Inequality Winter 2018

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What are the consequences of inequality?

Philosophical debates on inequality are hard to resolve Can instead focus on outcomes Does inequality make people worse off in an objective way?

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Chetty et al (2016)

The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014

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Life expectancy

Calculate the mortality rates for the cross section of every age Use the mortality rates to calculate life expectancy at any given age Alternatively, calculate the percentage of people who survive to a given age Compare that to the distribution of income at each age

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Life expectancy and income

Men in the top 1% live 14.6 years longer than men in the lowest 1% Women in the top 1% live 10.1 years longer than women in the lowest 1% Gap between men and women lower at high incomes How has this changed over time?

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Change in life expectancy

Life expectancy across most income groups growing Growing slowly for people low in the distribution, higher for the wealthy Poorest 5% do not appear to be living longer at all

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Geography and mortality

There are large geographic variations in mortality rates Low-income people die more frequently in the rust belt, midwest, south, and southeast High-income people in coastal areas living longest

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Causes

Geographical variation allows to compare other geographical outcomes Calculate correlation between life expectancy in bottom quartiles and local characteristics Use top quartile and bottom quartile (top 25%, lowest 25%)

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Bottom quartile Top quartile

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Mechanisms

We've only described correlations, not causation Public policy (smoking bans, public services, etc) Peer effects—wealthier, healthier neighbors may induce healthy behavior Compositional/sorting

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Case and Deaton (2015, 2017)

Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century (2015) Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century (2017) Look at mortality by race and gender instead of income

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'Deaths of despair' are cutting life short for some white Americans

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All-cause mortality, ages 45-54

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Mid-life mortality

Deaths due to drug and alcohol poisoning, suicide, and liver disease are increasing for all age groups of non-Hispanic white men For middle-age, it has increased enough to reduce overall life expectancy

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Causes

Income highly correlated with mortality Cannot explain everything, income for whites shows similar patterns as

ther groups

Case and Deaton suggest "cumulative deprivation" (fewer prospects in life)

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Summary

Income is highly correlated with life expectancy Increasing inequality increases the gap in mortality between rich and poor For some groups (non-Hispanic white men) life expectancy is decreasing The same people who are losing jobs to trade and automation? How do these people vote?

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