The recent literature on health economics has shown a keen interest in the mea- surement of health inequality and in its determinants. One of the more persistent and salient findings1 is the existence of a “health-income gradient”, in the sense that health tends to be associated positively with incomes. A seemingly natural corollary is that health policy might usefully take place through income redistri- bution and a general improvement in living standards. A number of important difficulties arise, however, when it comes to analyz- ing (and using) the link between income and health for descriptive and policy purposes. Trying to influence health through impacting on endogenous socio- economic variables such.
