Researchers report how income mobility can influence estimates of inequalities in life expectancy. Previous studies have found that people at the top of the income distribution have longer life expectancies than those at the bottom. However, people might not stay in the same income class over their entire lives, and the life expectancies of those who move to a different income class may be significantly different from those who stay in the same class. Claus Thustrup Kreiner, Torben Heien Nielsen, and Benjamin Ly Serena devised a method of accounting for income mobility when calculating the relationship between income and life expectancy by incorporating a classic model of social mobility from the literature. The authors demonstrated their approach by calculating life expectancy at age 40 in Denmark based on official income and mortality records spanning the period 1983-2013. Without accounting for income mobility, the life expectancy difference between the 80th and 20th income percentiles was 4.6 years for males and 4.1 years for females. The differences were only half as large after accounting for income mobility. Inequality in life expectancy steadily increased over the 30 years represented in the data. However, the increase was only half as great when accounting for income mobility. The results suggest that measures of inequality in life expectancy are exaggerated when mobility is disregarded, according to the authors.
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Article #18-11455: "Role of income mobility for the measurement of inequality in life expectancy," by Claus Thustrup Kreiner, Torben Heien Nielsen, and Benjamin Ly Serena.
MEDIA CONTACT: Claus Thustrup Kreiner, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK; tel: +45-30-70-50-25; e-mail: ctk@econ.ku.dk ; Torben Heien Nielsen, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK; tel: +45 51 92 70 64; e-mail: thn@econ.ku.dk ; Benjamin Ly Serena, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK; tel: +45-26-99-90-20; e-mail: benjamin.ly.serena@econ.ku.dk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences