Health and Wealth Disparities in the United States

by Jena, Anupam B.; Phillipson, Thomas J.; Sun, Eric C.

• ISBN13: 9780844743899
• ISBN10: 0844743895
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-16
• Publisher: AEI PRESS
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Traditional measures of economic disparities among Americans of different race, gender, geographic location, and education level consider only material well-being, so that making two groups economically "equal" is as simple as matching their monetary incomes. This narrow focus on income may not, however, lead to a complete understanding of economic prosperity in the United States. Differences in health and longevity are also important dimensions of a populations overall well-being.

Author Biography

Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhD, is a medical resident in the Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and a visiting fellow at the Bing Center for Economics at the RAND Corporation. Tomas J. Philipson, PhD, is the Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies at the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies and previously served as senior economic advisor to the head of the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (2004-2005) and to the head of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (2003-2004). Eric C. Sun, MD, PhD, is a resident in the Department of Anesthesiology at Stanford University and a visiting fellow at the Bing Center for Health Economics at the RAND Corporation.

Table of Contents

List Of Illustrations	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Health And Wealth Disparities in the United States: A Brief Overview of the Literature	p. 4
Disparities in Health across Individuals	p. 4
Disparities in Wealth across Individuals	p. 7
Disparities in Health across States	p. 8
Disparities in Wealth across States	p. 9
Conclusions	p. 11
Historical Evolution of Health and Wealth Disparities	p. 13
Evolution of Health by Race	p. 13
Evolution of Wealth by Race	p. 18
Evolution of Health across States	p. 20
Evolution of Wealth across States	p. 22
Standard Measures of Health and Wealth Disparities across States	p. 23
Valuing Improvements in Health	p. 27
A Framework for Valuing Health Gains and Income Disparities	p. 27
Estimating Incomes and Health Gains	p. 29
Health and the Evolution of Economic Disparities	p. 31
Health and the Evolution of Economic Disparities across Races	p. 31
Health and the Evolution of Economic Disparities across States	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 44
Derivation Of Indirect Utility Functions	p. 46
Theory	p. 46
Parameterizing the Model	p. 48
Additional Illustrations	p. 50
Notes	p. 62
References	p. 63
About The Authors	p. 67
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.