Economic crisis and health inequalities: evidence from the European Union.

Laia Maynou,Marc Saez

doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0425-6

Abstract

BackgroundThe recent economic crisis has been a major shock not only to the economic sector, but also to the rest of society. Our main objective in this paper is to show the impact of the economic crisis on convergence, i.e. the reduction or equalising of disparities, among the EU-27 countries in terms of health. The aim is to observe whether the economic crisis (from 2008 onwards) has in fact had an effect on health inequalities within the EU.MethodsWe estimate convergence by specifying a dynamic panel model with random-effects (time, regions and countries). We are particularly interested in σ-convergence. As dependent variables, we use life expectancy, total mortality and (cause-specific) mortality in the regions of the EU-27 countries over the period 1995–2011.ResultsThe results of the analysis show that, in terms of health, there has been a catching-up process among the EU regions. However, we find no reduction, on average, in dispersion levels as the σ-convergence shows. The main finding of this paper has been the sharp increase in disparities in 2010 for all health outcomes (albeit less abrupt for cancer mortality).ConclusionThis increase in disparities in 2010 coincides with the austerity measures implemented in the EU countries. Our main conclusion is that these austerity measures have had an impact on socioeconomic inequalities.

Highlights

The recent economic crisis has been a major shock to the economic sector, and to the rest of society
Since 2008, a weakening in commodity demand has lead to economic recession, which in turn has resulted in increased unemployment and reduced economic growth
Our results indicate that there was significant β-convergence in life expectancy, total mortality and mortality among the European Union (EU)-27 regions for the study period

Summary

Introduction

The recent economic crisis has been a major shock to the economic sector, and to the rest of society. Atkinson and Morelli [6] found evidence of financial crises increasing inequalities, they were unable to determine a clear pattern as each crisis has its own characteristics. The literature shows evidence of an increase in health inequalities during crisis periods, both previous [7, 8] and current [9,10,11,12]. These health inequalities have been seen in different health variables: mortality, mental health, self-perceived health, excessive alcohol

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Conclusion