| This dissertation is a collection of three chapters focusing on the relationship between health and socioeconomic characteristics. More specifically, each paper asks versions of the question: "Holding an individual's own income constant, is their health related to the distribution of income in their state?";The first chapter, "Income inequality and mortality in the US: Aggregate data and micro relationships," focuses on the correlation between income inequality and health, using data on income distributions (from the March CPS) and average mortality (from the Compressed Mortality Files, CMF) across US states in 1995. This chapter presents a methodology for estimating the micro level relationship between mortality, income, and inequality, when only aggregate level characteristics are observed. Empirical results indicate that when the aggregation of the nonlinear mortality-income relationship is accounted for, there remains little to no significant correlation between mortality and inequality.;The second chapter, "Relative income, race, and mortality," (coauthored with Christina Paxson), addresses the question of whether mortality is affected by relative income. This question is examined through the lens of racial differences in mortality in the United States, using CMF data merged with income data from the 1980 and 1990 Censuses. We estimate simple models, that use means to measure income levels, and also more flexible ones that account for nonlinearity in the relationship between mortality and income. We find that for several demographic groups mortality is positively related to others' income. This lends support to the idea that relative income can be a determinant in an individual's health.;The third chapter, "Morbidity and aggregate characteristics," examines the determinants of poor self reported health status. Using 1999 CPS data, the relationship between morbidity and individual and state-level characteristics is examined. This chapter provides first a descriptive nonparametric look at the relationship between morbidity, age, and income, highlighting the important interactions between these variables. The correlation between income inequality, morbidity, and other state-level variables are also estimated, indicating that inequality is not a significant correlate of morbidity. |
