Measuring the Spatial Distribution of Health Rankings in the United States

41 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2020 Last revised: 26 Jun 2022

See all articles by Will Davis

Will Davis

Mississippi State University; Georgia State University

Alexander Gordan

Georgia State University

Rusty Tchernis

Georgia State University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: May 2020

Abstract

We rank counties in the United States of America with respect to population health. We utilize the five observable county health variables used to construct the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings (CHRs). Our method relies on a factor analysis model to directly compute weights for our rankings, incorporate county population sizes into the variances, and allow for spillovers of health stock across county lines. We find that demographic and economic variation explain a large portion of the variation in health rankings. We address the importance of uncertainty caused by imputation of missing data and show that the use of rankings leads to inherently greater uncertainty. Analyzing the health of counties both within and across state lines shows substantial degrees of disparity. We find some disagreement between our ranks and the CHRs, but we show that much can be learned by combining results from both methods.

Suggested Citation

Davis, Will and Davis, Will and Gordan, Alexander and Tchernis, Rusty, Measuring the Spatial Distribution of Health Rankings in the United States (May 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w27259, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3615455

Will Davis (Contact Author)

Mississippi State University ( email )

Box 5187
Mississippi State, MS 39762
United States

Georgia State University

Alexander Gordan

Georgia State University

35 Broad Street
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States

Rusty Tchernis

Georgia State University - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 3992
Atlanta, GA 30302-3992
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www2.gsu.edu/~ecort

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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