Judge K
King's Fund Policy Institute, London.
BMJ. 1995 Nov 11;311(7015):1282-5; discussion 1285-7. doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7015.1282.
In a series of papers published during the past decade Richard Wilkinson has advanced the view that income inequality is the key determinant of variations in average life expectancy at birth among developed countries. Yet a careful examination of the two sources of data on income distribution most often used by Wilkinson suggests that if they are analysed more appropriately they do not lend support to his claims. More recent data on income distribution is now available for several countries in the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation in the mid-1980s and for Great Britain from 1961 to 1991. The use of these data also casts doubt on the hypothesis that inequalities in the distribution of income are closely associated with variations in average life expectancy at birth among the richest nations of the world.
在过去十年间发表的一系列论文中，理查德·威尔金森提出了这样一种观点：收入不平等是发达国家出生时平均预期寿命差异的关键决定因素。然而，仔细研究威尔金森最常使用的两个收入分配数据来源就会发现，如果对其进行更恰当的分析，它们并不能支持他的观点。现在有了经济合作与发展组织几个国家20世纪80年代中期以及英国1961年至1991年的最新收入分配数据。这些数据的使用也对收入分配不平等与世界最富裕国家出生时平均预期寿命差异密切相关这一假设提出了质疑。
