TY - JOUR
T1 - Health inequalities in the European Union
T2 - an empirical analysis of the dynamics of regional differences
AU - Maynou, Laia
AU - Saez, Marc
AU - Bacaria, Jordi
AU - Lopez-Casasnovas, Guillem
PY - 2014/6/6
Y1 - 2014/6/6
N2 - In a panel setting, we analyse the speed of (beta) convergence of (cause-specific) mortality and life expectancy at birth in EU countries between 1995 and 2009. Our contribution is threefold. First, in contrast to earlier literature, we allow the convergence rate to vary, and thereby uncover significant differences in the speed of convergence across time and regions. Second, we control for spatial correlations across regions. Third, we estimate convergence among regions, rather than countries, and thereby highlight noteworthy variations within a country. Although we find (beta) convergence on average, we also identify significant differences in the catching-up process across both time and regions. Moreover, we use the coefficient of variation to measure the dynamics of dispersion levels of mortality and life expectancy (sigma convergence) and, surprisingly, find no reduction, on average, in dispersion levels. Consequently, if the reduction of dispersion is the ultimate measure of convergence, then, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first that shows a lack of convergence in health across EU regions.
AB - In a panel setting, we analyse the speed of (beta) convergence of (cause-specific) mortality and life expectancy at birth in EU countries between 1995 and 2009. Our contribution is threefold. First, in contrast to earlier literature, we allow the convergence rate to vary, and thereby uncover significant differences in the speed of convergence across time and regions. Second, we control for spatial correlations across regions. Third, we estimate convergence among regions, rather than countries, and thereby highlight noteworthy variations within a country. Although we find (beta) convergence on average, we also identify significant differences in the catching-up process across both time and regions. Moreover, we use the coefficient of variation to measure the dynamics of dispersion levels of mortality and life expectancy (sigma convergence) and, surprisingly, find no reduction, on average, in dispersion levels. Consequently, if the reduction of dispersion is the ultimate measure of convergence, then, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first that shows a lack of convergence in health across EU regions.
KW - Bayesian models
KW - Beta convergence
KW - Catching-up
KW - Health convergence
KW - Integrated nested Laplace approximation
KW - Sigma convergence
KW - Spatiotemporal modelling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84939895243&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10198-014-0609-1
DO - 10.1007/s10198-014-0609-1
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 24903022
AN - SCOPUS:84939895243
VL - 16
SP - 543
EP - 559
JO - European Journal of Health Economics
JF - European Journal of Health Economics
SN - 1618-7598
IS - 5
ER -