ABSTRACT
According the Samuel. H. Preston, there is an empirical cross-sectional relationship between life expectancy and income. Named after him, the Preston Curve shows that there is in fact a positive correlation between the two variables.
To discuss the topic above, this brings up the research question of this paper, that is: Is the relationship between life expectancy and income different in countries that are growing endogenously?
Using a cross sectional data with 30 observations, this paper finds the relationship between life expectancy and income in countries that are growing endogenously. After gathering the data and doing the regression analysis using STATA, even though it is true that there is a positive correlation between the two variables, income has a very small impact towards life expectancy. There are other factors that would have a bigger impact to change life expectancy.
1. INTRODUCTION
Economists would often try to find a certain relationship between different variables. The relationship that was found is then shown to other economists, and people would start trying to either approve it right, or the other way, approve it wrong. One theory that is known to be proved correct is the relationship between life expectancy and income. However, there are still people who are trying to disapprove this theory as the world economy has changed.
Known as the “Preston Curve,” this theory is an empirical cross-sectional relationship between life expectancy
People were less likely to face poor retirement if they worked in managerial or professional jobs than someone who worked in unskilled or manual occupations. This is because the people who worked in manual would have earned lower wages and would not be as likely to get a private pension. Men that are in the professional classes have a life expectancy of 80 years from birth. However men from unskilled or manual classes have a life expectancy of 78.1 years. This also effects woman’s life expectancy as woman from professional classes have a life expectancy of 85.1 compared to those who are in the unskilled or manual classes and their life expectancy if 78.1 years. Causes of death also vary from different social classes. In the higher social classes it is less likely to suffer from, lung cancer, coronary heart disease, stokes and respiratory diseases. All of these increase within social disadvantages.
In Stephen Gould's article The Median Isn't the Message, there is an excellent story that displays the power that statistics can play in shaping how we think and our attitude towards certain subjects. When Gould was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1982, he decided to research the life expectancy and was shock that it was only 8 months. Upon looking further he found that under his circumstances, he could fall under the curve much farther out, meaning a longer life expectancy.
The primary reason for the vast increase in life expectancy in developed countries in the 20th century is universal clean drinking water and very high level of public and personal hygiene. These two improvements account for probably 80%of the life expectancy. Overall life
First, there is Jim Taylor, Hospital CEO, District 16; second, Tondra Young, Clinical Lab Supervisor, District 24; lastly, Corey Anderson, Floor Technician, District 21. The population of each district decreases in average income, education level and life expectancy than its preceding district, beginning with district 16, Jim Taylor’s district. District 16 has an average combined household income of approximately $120,000/ annually. In this district, 65% of the population has a college degree and the life expectancy in this district is 82 years. Whereas, Tondra Young’s district, district 24, has an average combined household income of $70,000/annually and 15% of the population has a college degree. The life expectancy of district 24 is 75 years, that’s 7 years less than district 16. In district 21, Corey Anderson’s district, the average combined household income is less than $50,000/ annually and only 5% of the districts population have college degrees. Consequently, the life expectancy of district 21 is 70 years, 5 years less than district 24 and 12 years less than district 16 (Adelman 2008). The results of this study are indisputable: there is an obvious correlation between social/economic status and health status. As each districts average income and education level decrease, average life expectancy coincides. This leads to the next question: why does social and economic status so greatly influence health status?
Life expectancy, or the estimated years of life for a person or group of people, has increased over the years but it is still surprisingly lower than expected in places such as the United States. America ranks twenty-fourth on the life expectancy list under Japan, Australia, France Spain and Italy. What causes this disparity in the ranking and statistics in an advanced industrialized society such as the United States? There are major statistical factors that influence the United States ranking in world life expectancy, involving education level, poverty, race and gender. The diverse groups of people living in the United States affect the health statistics negatively, bringing in influences from education and income levels, race and
The article then refers back to the affects of inequality towards lifespan, that paychecks aren’t the only thing that is unequal but the wealthier live longer than
Moreover, the quality of life of citizens in these countries is possibly improved with developing health care services and clean water, leading to increasing the average life expectancy. It is possible to anticipate that the number of citizens living for at least sixty years will account for about 85 percent of the world’s population (Healey, 2008).This is due to the effects of globalization on medicine that have led to an increase of international medical exchange. As a result, solutions for disease treatment and surgery had been increasing remarkably that may save many people from death. Thus, life expectancy is lengthened. In other words, globalization may provide better living conditions and double the average life expectancy of 100 years ago (Healey, 2008).
In their study on the trends in county mortality and cross-county mortality disparities in the United States, Ezzati et al. found out that there have been huge variations in the mortality patterns over time. The mortality declined significantly for both sexes specifically due to decreases in cardiovascular mortalities, which included stroke and heart disease. The researchers found that the overall life expectancy in the United States increased from 74 to 80 years for women while that of men increased from 67 to 74 years of age. Further, from 1961 to 1983, the differences in death rates among or across different counties fell. There was a decline or stagnation in mortality among 19 percent of female and 4 percent of male population. Men lived 9.0 years longer in the
The data within this document could be considered as a valid and reliable outlook into London’s life expectancy because it is a published document by Public Health England which is a health organisation. The publisher is reputable and therefore it is deemed as being trustworthy (Public Health England. 2013). Furthermore the information has been collected and analysed by professionals. Validity of the document is reinforced as the data given does reflect life expectancy within a given borough (Office For National Statistics. Unknown).
In 1810, most countries were sick and poor, age expectance were below 40. There wasn’t much of an equality gap since all countries were on the same page. However, as the Industrial Revolution began, countries in Europe began to gain headway while colonized countries were still left in the dust. This is the first major, noticeable gap in global inequality was presented. Western countries began to get healthier and wealthier as time progressed with a couple countries like Japan following behind. During the Era of World War 2, a larger gap on global in equality is noticed where Western countries began to have a high life span consistency inching to 75 years while countries like China and African countries are still solidly hovering near the 40
I watched an episode about “The Economics of Death” basically what happens to our money after we die. The global average life expectancy has risen from 65 years to 70 years of age. But it is significantly different for other countries like Africa kids now have a 12 years less than the global average. Economy level affects life expectancy in 2010 a wealthy man in the U.S was expected to live to age 89 but the same man who got paid less would live till 76. This affects economics because the rich get a lot more government benefit. Some economist believe that an increase in people's lives is better for the economy because then they would have more years to consume stuff. At the same time long lives have bigger health problems which cost a lot to
The life in the U.S compared to that of the Soviet Union during the 60’s is an amazing phenomenon of a declining life expectancy in a highly developed country just like in the case of the Soviet Union during the 60’s down to the 70’s. The result of the life expectancy rate in the Soviet Union shows that there is only a small part to true informal changes in the state of living. However, the weak point of the measures of life expectancy is of vital importance, although another factor is the unfavourable selection of risks by war, thereby making a less valuable comparison between the international and inter temporal. Another factor is the logical difference between period and the measurement of the group of people sharing a common factor
(de Haan, 1996) Many middle income countries have fairly stable political systems; however coups and regime changes do occur. This has a negative affect on economic growth and is an indicator that GNP will be lower than otherwise possible. Life expectancy in the countries also tends to be lower than in high income countries. In middle income countries the life expectancy is around 50 years.(Dwyer, 2005) The main reasons that populations in middle income countries experience shorter life expectancy are reduced access to healthcare, substandard living conditions and lack of variety in diet.
The increase in life expectancy is partially to blame for the increase in elderly citizens, as there are now better medicines and medical procedures to cure ailments which could have easily killed a person 10 or 20 years ago. As Levine said, "There are more elderly and a larger proportion of elderly in the population now than ever before in the history of the world, and individuals live longer and have a longer span of healthy, vigorous life than ever before" . We have to prepare, not only to have more aged people in the work force, but also to have adequate pensions and supplements to aid these people when they do retire.
However, better healthcare and protection from government result in rising age expectancy, which is a double-edged sword as on one hand, people live longer as shown in report (Friedland and Summer, 2005, Fig 1-2) and on the other hand, the proportion of aging population increases if the younger generation are not reproducing enough, and this is exactly the trend now in developed nations. In the