University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Eur J Health Econ. 2023 Sep;24(7):1235-1237. doi: 10.1007/s10198-023-01609-3. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Wildman (2021), who identifies "a clear association between income inequality [measured by the Gini coefficient] and COVID-19 cases and deaths," concludes that "a goal of government should be to reduce [income] inequalities and [thereby] improve [the COVID-19 outcomes /] underlying health of their populations." In this Comment, we argue that reducing the Gini coefficient of the income distribution of a population need not weaken the population's social stress. It is this stress which is a source of adverse health outcomes of the population. Because a measure of this stress is a component of the Gini coefficient, reducing the coefficient can leave the measure as is, or even increase the measure.
Wildman（2021 年）指出，“基尼系数（衡量收入不平等的指标）与新冠病例和死亡之间存在明显关联”，他总结认为，“政府的目标应该是减少（收入）不平等，从而改善（新冠疫情的）结果/提高其人口的健康水平。”在这篇评论中，我们认为，降低人口收入分配的基尼系数不一定会削弱人口的社会压力。正是这种压力是人口健康不良后果的一个来源。因为这种压力的一个衡量标准是基尼系数的一个组成部分，所以降低系数可以保持该衡量标准不变，甚至可以增加该衡量标准。
