Socio-economic status and health: causality and pathways

Abstract

The direct causal effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on health inequalities are analyzed. SES is non-significant for most of the acute health conditions. However, SES have direct causal effect on mental health and degenerative conditions. The lack of medical insurance coverage for mental and chronic illness may lead to the direct causal effect. The statistical methods, used to study causal effects, are more suitable for explaining pathways linking SES to specific health conditions, rather than for testing causality between SES and health.