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Public Health Ethics Advance Access originally published online on March 1, 2009
Public Health Ethics 2009 2(1):45-52; doi:10.1093/phe/php004
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. Available online at www.phe.oxfordjournals.org

Ethics and Epidemiology: The Income Debate

Gopal Sreenivasan*

Duke University

* Corresponding author: Gopal Sreenivasan, 201 West Duke Building, Box 90743, Durham NC USA 27708. Email: gopal.sreenivasan{at}duke.edu


  Abstract

This paper reviews the epidemiological debate between the relative income hypothesis and the absolute income hypothesis. The dispute between these rival hypotheses has to do with whether an adequate account of the relationship between income and life expectancy requires the definition of ‘income’ to include any comparative element. I discuss the evidence offered for the relative hypothesis (which answers, ‘yes’), as well as two important criticisms that have been levelled against this evidence. I also offer some critical reflections on the debate from a philosophical standpoint concerned with the ethics of population health. Both hypotheses agree that a redistribution of income towards the worst off will improve their life expectancy.


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G. Sreenivasan
Ethics and Epidemiology: Residual Health Inequalities
Public Health Ethics, October 13, 2009; (2009) php030v1.
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