"Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?" Revisited: An Analysis of the Causal Pathways from Socio-Economic Status to Health

49 Pages Posted: 8 Aug 2011 Last revised: 13 Mar 2023

See all articles by Till Stowasser

Till Stowasser

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)

Florian Heiss

Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Florian Heiss

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Daniel L. McFadden

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Joachim K. Winter

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA); Deutsche Bundesbank - Research Department

Date Written: August 2011

Abstract

Much has been said about the stylized fact that the economically successful are not only wealthier but also healthier than the less affluent. There is little doubt about the existence of this socio-economic gradient in health, but there remains a vivid debate about its source. In this paper, we review the methodological challenges involved in testing the causal relationships between socio-economic status and health. We describe the approach of testing for the absence of causal channels developed by Adams et al. (2003) that seeks identification without the need to isolate exogenous variation in economic variables, and we repeat their analysis using the full range of data that have become available in the Health and Retirement Study since, both in terms of observations years and age ranges covered. This analysis shows that causal inference critically depends on which time periods are used for estimation. Using the information of longer panels has the greatest effect on results. We find that SES causality cannot be ruled out for a larger number of health conditions than in the original study. An approach based on a reduced-form interpretation of causality thus is not very informative, at least as long as the confounding influence of hidden common factors is not fully controlled.

Suggested Citation

Stowasser, Till and Heiss, Florian and Heiss, Florian and McFadden, Daniel L. and Winter, Joachim K., "Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?" Revisited: An Analysis of the Causal Pathways from Socio-Economic Status to Health (August 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17273, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1906207

Till Stowasser (Contact Author)

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ( email )

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
Munich, DE Bavaria 80539
Germany

Florian Heiss

Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf - Department of Economics ( email )

Duesseldorf
Germany

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Florian Heiss

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz ( email )

Saarstrasse 21
Mainz, D-55099
Germany

Daniel L. McFadden

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

549 Evans Hall #3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Joachim K. Winter

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ( email )

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
Munich, DE Bavaria 80539
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) ( email )

Amalienstrasse 33
Munich, 80799
Germany

Deutsche Bundesbank - Research Department ( email )

PO Box 10 06 02
D60006 Frankfurt
Germany

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