Measuring inequality: tools and an illustration

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Ruth FG Williams (1) (2)
  DP Doessel (2)
  
• 刊名：International Journal for Equity in Health
• 出版年：2006
• 出版时间：December 2006
• 年：2006
• 卷：5
• 期：1
• 全文大小：508KB
• 参考文献：1. Leeder SR: Achieving Equity in the Australian Healthcare System. / Medical Journal of Australia 2003,179(4, Nov. 3):475鈥?78.
  2. Muurinen JM, Grand JL: The economic analysis of inequalities in health. / Social Science and Medicine 1985,20(10):1029鈥?035. CrossRef
  3. Lorenz MO: Methods of measuring the concentration of wealth. / Journal of the American Statistical Association 1905,9(70):209鈥?9. CrossRef
  4. Wagstaff A, van Doorslaer E: Equity in the delivery of health care: methods and findings. / Equity in the Finance and Delivery of Health Care: An International Perspective / (Edited by: van Doorslaer E, Wagstaff A, Rutten F). Oxford: Oxford University Press 1993.
  5. van Doorslaer E, Wagstaff A, Rutten F: Equity in the Finance and Delivery of Health Care: An International Perspective. / CEC Health Services Research Series / (Edited by: Buxton R, Stein H, Kamper-Joergensen F et al). Oxford: Oxford University Press 1993.
  6. Kendall M, Stuart A: / The Advanced Theory of Statistics High Wycombe: Griffin 1977.
  7. Cowell FA: / Measuring Inequality Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall 1995.
  8. Wagstaff A, van Doorslaer E, Paci P: On the measurement of horizontal inequity in the delivery of health care. / Journal of Health Economics 1991,10(2):169鈥?05. CrossRef
  9. Pamuk ER: Social class inequality in mortality from 1921 to 1972 in England and Wales. / Population Studies 1985,39(1):17鈥?1. CrossRef
  10. Mackenbach JP, Kunst AE: Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: an overview of available measures illustrated with examples from Europe. / Social Science and Medicine 1997,44(6):757鈥?71. CrossRef
  11. Wagstaff A, van Doorslaer E: Overall versus socioeconomic inequality in health: a measurement framework and two empirical applications. / Health Economics 2004,13(1):297鈥?01. CrossRef
  12. Wagstaff A, Paci P, van Doorslaer E: On the measurement of inequalities in health. / Social Science and Medicine 1991,33(5):545鈥?57. CrossRef
  13. Swamy S: Notes on Fractile Graphical Analysis. / Econometrica 1963,31(3):551鈥?4. CrossRef
  14. Kakwani NC: Applications of Lorenz curves in economic analysis. / Econometrica 1977,45(3):719鈥?28. CrossRef
  15. Dalton H: The measurement on the inequality of income. / The Economic Journal 1920,30(3):348鈥?61. CrossRef
  16. Atkinson AB: On the measurement of inequality. / Journal of Economic Theory 1970,2(3):244鈥?3. CrossRef
  17. Theil H: / Economics and Information Theory North-Holland: Amsterdam 1967.
  18. Barr N: / The Economics of the Welfare State Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998.
  19. Johnson DT: / Poverty, Inequality and Social Welfare in Australia Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag 1996.
  20. Creedy J: The Dynamics of Inequality and Poverty: Comparing Income Distributions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 1998.
  21. Marmot M, Wilkinson RG, eds: / Social Determinants of Health Oxford: Oxford University Press 1999.
  22. Bartley M: / Health Inequality: An Introduction to Theories, Concepts and Methods Cambridge, UK: Polity Press 2004.
  23. Blazer D, George LK, Landerman R, Pennybacker M, Melville ML, Woodbury M, Manton KG, Jordan K, Locke B: Psychiatric Disorders: A Rural/Urban Comparison. / Archives of General Psychiatry 1985,42(7):651鈥?56.
  24. Bronfenbrenner M: / Income Distribution Theory Basingstoke: Macmillan 1971.
  25. Burgess P, Pirkis J, Buckingham B, / et al.: / Mental Health Needs and Expenditure in Australia Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing Mental Health and Special Programs Branch 2002.
  26. Deaton A: Inequalities in Income and Inequalities in Health. / NBER Working Papers No 7141 National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 7141. [http://papers.nber.org/papers/W7141]
  27. Deaton A: Health, Inequality and Economic Development. / Journal of Economic Literature 2003,41(1):113鈥?58. CrossRef
  28. Deaton A, Lubotsky D: Mortality Inequality and Race in American Cities and States. / Social Science and Medicine 2003,56(6):1139鈥?153. CrossRef
  29. Kendler KS, Gallagher TJ, Abelson JM, Kessler RC: Lifetime Prevalence, Demographic Risk Factors, and Diagnostic Validity of Non-Affective Psychosis as Assessed in a US Community Sample, the National Comorbidity Survey. / Archives of General Psychiatry 1996,53(11):1022鈥?031.
  30. Wilkinson RG: / Unhealthy Societies The Afflictions of Inequality London: Routledge 1996. CrossRef
  31. Williams A, Cookson R: Equity in Health. / Handbook of Health Economics Vol. 1B / (Edited by: Culyer, AJ, Newhouse JP). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science; 2000.
  
• 作者单位：Ruth FG Williams (1) (2)
  DP Doessel (2)
  
  1. School of Applied Economics, and Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
  2. Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park 鈥?Centre for Mental Health, Qld; and School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Australia
  

文摘

Background This paper examines an aspect of the problem of measuring inequality in health services. The measures that are commonly applied can be misleading because such measures obscure the difficulty in obtaining a complete ranking of distributions. The nature of the social welfare function underlying these measures is important. The overall object is to demonstrate that varying implications for the welfare of society result from inequality measures. Method Various tools for measuring a distribution are applied to some illustrative data on four distributions about mental health services. Although these data refer to this one aspect of health, the exercise is of broader relevance than mental health. The summary measures of dispersion conventionally used in empirical work are applied to the data here, such as the standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, the relative mean deviation and the Gini coefficient. Other, less commonly used measures also are applied, such as Theil's Index of Entropy, Atkinson's Measure (using two differing assumptions about the inequality aversion parameter). Lorenz curves are also drawn for these distributions. Results Distributions are shown to have differing rankings (in terms of which is more equal than another), depending on which measure is applied. Conclusion The scope and content of the literature from the past decade about health inequalities and inequities suggest that the economic literature from the past 100 years about inequality and inequity may have been overlooked, generally speaking, in the health inequalities and inequity literature. An understanding of economic theory and economic method, partly introduced in this article, is helpful in analysing health inequality and inequity.