Reporting Heterogeneity and Health Disparities Across Gender and Education Levels: Evidence from Four Countries

70 Pages Posted: 27 Feb 2015 Last revised: 21 May 2015

See all articles by Teresa Molina

Teresa Molina

USC Dornsife Institute for New Economic Thinking

Date Written: February 25, 2015

Abstract

I use anchoring vignettes from surveys of the mid-aged and elderly in Indonesia, the U.S., England, and China to study the extent to which differences in self-reported health across genders and education levels can be explained by the use of different response thresholds across groups. In order to determine whether statistically significant differences between groups remain after adjusting for different thresholds, I calculate standard errors for the simulated probabilities, which have been ignored in previous literature. Accounting for reporting heterogeneity either reduces or eliminates the gender gap in many health domains across the four countries, but to varying degrees. On the other hand, I find that the health disparities across education levels found in the raw data persist and are in many cases widened once I equalize thresholds across the two groups.

Keywords: self-reported health, anchoring vignettes, gender health disparities, SES health disparities

JEL Classification: J14, J16, I10

Suggested Citation

Molina, Teresa, Reporting Heterogeneity and Health Disparities Across Gender and Education Levels: Evidence from Four Countries (February 25, 2015). USC-INET Research Paper No. 15-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2570147 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2570147

Teresa Molina (Contact Author)

USC Dornsife Institute for New Economic Thinking ( email )

3620 S. Vermont Avenue, KAP 364F
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0253
United States

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