Amin Saqib
Department of Economics, Accounting and Finance, Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4600, Oulu, FIN-90014, Finland.
Eur J Health Econ. 2025 May 25. doi: 10.1007/s10198-025-01780-9.
The relationship between poverty, income inequality, and health outcomes has been extensively explored in the literature, primarily focusing on cross-country comparisons. However, findings from within-country analyses have yielded inconsistent results. This study investigates the association between poverty risk, income inequality, and health outcomes using Finnish municipality-level data from 1990 to 2023. Fixed-effect models are used to reveal a concerning interplay between these factors by utilizing measures of poverty risk, income inequality, and their synergistic effect, alongside a comprehensive set of health outcome indicators. The findings reveal a significant strong association between both poverty risk and income inequality with various health indicators. Moreover, the analysis also demonstrates a strong combined influence of poverty and inequality, indicating that their combined effect on negative health outcomes is more pronounced. These findings suggest that policies promoting social mobility and reducing income inequality may lead to a healthier Finnish population, particularly low-income residents, with a lower burden of chronic diseases and mortality.
贫困、收入不平等与健康结果之间的关系在文献中已得到广泛探讨，主要集中在跨国比较上。然而，国内分析的结果却不一致。本研究利用1990年至2023年芬兰市政层面的数据，调查贫困风险、收入不平等与健康结果之间的关联。通过使用贫困风险、收入不平等及其协同效应的衡量指标，以及一套全面的健康结果指标，固定效应模型被用来揭示这些因素之间令人担忧的相互作用。研究结果显示，贫困风险和收入不平等与各种健康指标之间都存在显著的强关联。此外，分析还表明贫困和不平等具有强大的综合影响，表明它们对负面健康结果的综合影响更为显著。这些发现表明，促进社会流动和减少收入不平等的政策可能会使芬兰人口更健康，尤其是低收入居民，慢性病负担和死亡率更低。
