Lhila Aparna
Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2009 Oct;69(8):1236-45. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.07.011. Epub 2009 Aug 21.
This paper estimates the relationship between state and county income inequality and low birthweight (LBW) in the U.S. It examines whether more unequal societies are also less healthy because such societies have lower investment in population health. The model includes an extensive list of community and individual controls and community fixed-effects. Results show that unequal states in fact have greater social investments, and absent these investments children born in such states would be more likely to be LBW. Using alternate measures of inequality reveals that income inequality in the upper tail of the income distribution is not related to LBW; but inequality in the lower tail of the income distribution is associated with increased LBW where the supply of healthcare mitigates the effect of income inequality. Consistent with prior findings, county income inequality is not significantly related to LBW.
本文估算了美国州和县级收入不平等与低体重出生（LBW）之间的关系。它考察了社会不平等程度越高是否健康状况就越差，因为此类社会在人口健康方面的投资较少。该模型包含一系列广泛的社区和个人控制变量以及社区固定效应。结果表明，事实上不平等程度较高的州有更多社会投资，若没有这些投资，在这些州出生的孩子更有可能低体重出生。使用其他不平等衡量指标显示，收入分布上尾的收入不平等与低体重出生无关；但收入分布下尾的不平等与低体重出生增加有关，其中医疗保健供应减轻了收入不平等的影响。与先前的研究结果一致，县级收入不平等与低体重出生没有显著关系。
