Inequality and Health: Long-Run Evidence from a Panel of Countries

Is mortality higher in countries that are more unequal? To answer this question, we use a new source of data on inequality: tax data on the share of the richest 10 percent of the population. Within countries, changes in top income shares have been shown to proxy changes in other inequality measures, such as the Gini coefficient. Using data on top income shares from Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK and the US over the period 1905-2002, we investigate the relationship between inequality, life expectancy, and infant mortality. In the absence of country and year fixed effects, we find a positive relationship between inequality and mortality rates. However, in our preferred fixed effects specification, the relationship becomes small and statistically insignificant. Nor do we find support for the hypothesis that changes in the income share of the richest ten percent affect homicide or suicide rates.