MEA, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Health Econ. 2012 May;21(5):562-79. doi: 10.1002/hec.1732. Epub 2011 Apr 18.
Using newly available data from Germany, we study the relationship between parental income and child health. We find a strong gradient between parental income and subjective child health as has been documented earlier in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The relationship in Germany is about as strong as in the United States and stronger than in the United Kingdom. However, in contrast to US results, we do not find consistent evidence that the disadvantages associated with low parental income accumulate as the child ages, nor that children from low socioeconomic background are more likely to suffer from doctor-diagnosed conditions. There is some evidence, however, that high-income children are better able to cope with the adverse consequences of chronic conditions. Investigating potential diagnosis bias, we find only weak evidence for health disadvantages for low-income children when using objective health measures, but some evidence for under-utilization of health services among low-income families.
利用德国新获得的数据，我们研究了父母收入与儿童健康之间的关系。我们发现，父母收入与主观儿童健康之间存在很强的梯度关系，这在美国、加拿大和英国早已得到证实。德国的这种关系与美国一样强，比英国更强。然而，与美国的结果不同，我们没有发现一致的证据表明，与低父母收入相关的劣势会随着孩子年龄的增长而累积，也没有发现来自社会经济背景较低的儿童更容易患上医生诊断的疾病的证据。然而，有一些证据表明，高收入儿童能够更好地应对慢性疾病的不利后果。在调查潜在的诊断偏差时，我们发现，使用客观健康指标时，低收入儿童的健康劣势只有微弱的证据，但低收入家庭对卫生服务的利用不足的证据则多一些。
