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Journal Articles
September 2000
Article
Evidence on the relationship between low income and poor health: is the government doing enough?
Type: Journal Articles
Authors: Michaela Benzeval, Jayne Taylor and Ken Judge
ISSN: Print: 0143-5671 Online: 1475-5890
Volume, issue, pages: Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 375-399

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The government's report, Opportunity for All: Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion (Department of Social Security, 1999), identified poor health as one of the major problems associated with low income. However, much of the available evidence on the relationship between income and health is of little help in forming policies to reduce health inequalities, as it has tended to be based on cross-section surveys and is therefore unable to shed much light on causal effects. Here, we make use of two British longitudinal datasets to examine the longer-term influences of income on health within

a life-course perspective. We then use the results of our analysis to provide a brief critical assessment of the likely success of the government's anti-poverty strategy in reducing health inequalities. A more detailed assessment of government policy in this respect can be found in Benzeval et al. (forthcoming).

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