Using quantile regression to examine the effects of inequality across the mortality distribution in the U.S. counties.

ABSTRACT: The U.S. has experienced a resurgence of income inequality in the past decades. The evidence regarding the mortality implications of this phenomenon has been mixed. This study employs a rarely used method in mortality research, quantile regression (QR), to provide insight into the ongoing debate of whether income inequality is a determinant of mortality and to investigate the varying relationship between inequality and mortality throughout the mortality distribution. Analyzing a U.S. dataset where the five-year (1998-2002) average mortality rates were combined with other county-level covariates, we found that the association between inequality and mortality was not constant throughout the mortality distribution and the impact of inequality on mortality steadily increased until the 80th per

SUBMITTER: Yang TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3568764 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature