Working Paper: NBER ID: w12267
Authors: Anne Case; Christina Paxson; Tom Vogl
Abstract: Understanding whether the gradient in children's health becomes steeper with age is an important first step in uncovering the mechanisms that connect economic and health status, and in recommending sensible interventions to protect children's health. To that end, this paper examines why two sets of authors, Chen et al (2006) and Case et al (2002), using data from the same source, reach markedly different conclusions about income-health gradients in childhood. We find that differences can be explained primarily by the inclusion (exclusion) of a handful of younger adults living independently.
Keywords: socioeconomic status; health; children; income-health gradient
JEL Codes: I1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Household income (D19) | Children's health outcomes (I14) |
| Independent young adults included (J13) | Bias in estimates of SES on health outcomes (I14) |
| Exclusion of independent young adults (J14) | Statistically significant age-income interaction term (C29) |
| Change in household income from 75th to 25th percentile (D31) | Probability of being in fair or poor health (I14) |
| Measurement method of household income (logarithmic vs. categorical) (C81) | Differences in findings (C90) |