Income inequality and mental health in the Philippines: the impact of income inequality on mental health in the Philippines
Date
2016-12-14
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Abstract
Despite the increasing cases of mental disorders and disability and the economic, health, and social costs these inflict to society, little is studied about its economic determinants in the Philippines. We investigate the relation between income inequality and mental health in the Philippines. We used pseudo-panel data from approximately 32 thousand households from 83 provinces in 2006 and 2009. Data includes vital statistics records of deaths by mental disorders, self-inflicted harm and event of undetermined intent as mental health outcomes. Using the fixed effect regression, our results displayed significance of income inequality measures at the 95% confidence interval. Our analysis finds support for this relation, and suggest that further increase in income inequality will lead to a greater adverse effects to population mental health in the country.
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Keywords
income inequality, mental health, income, health