Is Economic Policy Health Policy?

INCOME inequality; PUBLIC health; SOCIAL policy; ECONOMIC policy; DISTRIBUTION (Economic theory)

The article comments on the report by Lochner and colleagues that documents the increased risk of death among individuals in some groups living in high-inequality and low-inequality states in the U.S. Multilevel models allow researchers to examine the question of which subpopulations show an effect of income inequality on health. The study of the relationship between income inequality and the health of nations and areas has awakened the interest in the role of social and economic policy as significant determinants of the patterns of both individual and population health.