A Theory of Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Over the Life Cycle
Published Aug 16, 2010
Understanding of the substantial disparity in health between low and high socioeconomic status (SES) groups is hampered by the lack of a sufficiently comprehensive theoretical framework to interpret empirical facts and to predict yet untested relations. The authors present a life-cycle model that incorporates multiple mechanisms explaining (jointly) a large part of the observed disparities in health by SES. In their model, lifestyle factors, working conditions, retirement, living conditions and curative care are mechanisms through which SES, health and mortality are related. Their model predicts a widening and possibly a subsequent narrowing with age of the gradient in health by SES.
Topics
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Year: 2010
- Pages: 50
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/WR773
- Document Number: WR-773
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Galama, Titus and Hans van Kippersluis, A Theory of Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Over the Life Cycle, RAND Corporation, WR-773, 2010. As of July 10, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR773.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Galama, Titus and Hans van Kippersluis, A Theory of Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Over the Life Cycle. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR773.html.
This paper series was made possible by the NIA funded RAND Center for the Study of Aging and the NICHD funded RAND Population Research Center.
This publication is part of the RAND working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND but may not have been formally edited or peer reviewed.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.