Editorial | Social inequalities in health | Pierre-Yves Geoffard

Socio-economic inequalities are most often approached, especially by economists, from the angle of differences in income or wealth. However, numerous surveys indicate that even before monetary wealth and the living conditions it makes possible, health is an essential determinant of individual well-being.

In this editorial, Pierre-Yves Geoffard discusses the issue of socioeconomic inequalities in health. The first step is to document these inequalities, and then to try to understand what determines them.

Read the full contribution: “Social inequalities in health” by Pierre-Yves Geodffard.

Pierre-Yves Geoffard, professor at the Paris School of Economics, is director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

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Surveys

• Survey Espérance de vie - Mortalité d’après les Tableaux de l’Economie Française, 2020, INSEE.
• Survey “En 2020, l’espérance de vie sans incapacité à 65 ans est de 12,1 ans pour les femmes et de 10,6 ans pour les hommes”, 2021, Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques.

Articles

• Marmot Michael Gideon, Kogevinas Manolis and Elston M.A., 1987, “Social/Economic Status and Disease”, Annual Review of Public Health, 8: 111–135.
• Case Anne and Deaton Angus, 2017, “Mortality and morbidity in the 21^st century", Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, pp. 397-476.
• Apouey Bénédicte and Geoffard Pierre-Yves, 2013. “Family income and child health in the UK”, Journal of Health Economics, volume 22, issue 4, pages 715-727.
• Abul-Naga Ramses and Geoffard Pierre-Yves, 2006, “Decomposition of bivariate inequality indices by attributes”, Economics Letters, 90(3): 362-367.

* This editorial is part od the “Economics for everybody” formula.