On the choice of health inequality measure for the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities

Summary

Changes in rank-dependent income-related health inequality measures over
time may usefully be decomposed into contributions due to changes in
health outcomes and changes in individuals' positions in the income
distribution. This paper establishes the normative implications of this
type of decomposition by embedding it within a broader analysis of
changes in the ‘health achievement’ index. We further show that the
choice of health inequality measure implies a particular vertical equity
judgement, which may be expressed on a common scale in terms of the
concentration index of health changes that would be inequality
preserving. We illustrate the empirical implications of this choice by
reporting results from a longitudinal analysis of changes in
income-related health inequality in Great Britain using the
concentration, the Erreygers and Wagstaff indices of health attainments
and the concentration index of health shortfalls. Copyright © 2012 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.