TY - JOUR
T1 - Aversion to health inequality — Pure, income-related and income-caused
AU - Robson, Matthew
AU - O'Donnell, Owen
AU - Van Ourti, Tom
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - We design a novel experiment to identify aversion to pure (univariate) health inequality separately from aversion to income-related and income-caused health inequality. Participants allocate resources to determine health of individuals. Identification comes from random variation in resource productivity and information on income and its causal effect. We gather data (26,286 observations) from a sample of UK adults (n = 337) and estimate pooled and participant-specific social preferences while accounting for noise. The median person has strong aversion to pure health inequality, challenging the health maximisation objective of economic evaluation. Aversion to health inequality is even stronger when it is related to income. However, the median person prioritises health of poorer individuals less than is assumed in the standard measure of income-related health inequality. On average, aversion to that inequality does not become stronger when low income is known to cause ill-health. There is substantial heterogeneity in all three types of inequality aversion.
AB - We design a novel experiment to identify aversion to pure (univariate) health inequality separately from aversion to income-related and income-caused health inequality. Participants allocate resources to determine health of individuals. Identification comes from random variation in resource productivity and information on income and its causal effect. We gather data (26,286 observations) from a sample of UK adults (n = 337) and estimate pooled and participant-specific social preferences while accounting for noise. The median person has strong aversion to pure health inequality, challenging the health maximisation objective of economic evaluation. Aversion to health inequality is even stronger when it is related to income. However, the median person prioritises health of poorer individuals less than is assumed in the standard measure of income-related health inequality. On average, aversion to that inequality does not become stronger when low income is known to cause ill-health. There is substantial heterogeneity in all three types of inequality aversion.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183667765&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102856
DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102856
M3 - Article
C2 - 38266377
AN - SCOPUS:85183667765
SN - 0167-6296
VL - 94
JO - Journal of Health Economics
JF - Journal of Health Economics
M1 - 102856
ER -