경기동행적 또는 경기역행적? 소득집단별 경기변동이 개인의 건강에 미치는 차별적 효과

Abstract

Though the impact of long-term growth on individual health has been actively studied, research on the health effects of short-term economic fluctuations has only recently begun with Ruhm(2000). The literature mostly uses mortality as the proxy for individual health but does not yet provide a consistent answer as to how business cycle affects health. With an aggregate variable such as mortality, we can only identify the average effect on the entire group. Such analysis may not be accurate when business cycle has different implications for different individuals with different levels of income. We suggest a theoretical model to show that business cycle has different health effects across income groups, and estimate these differential effects with actual data. Empirical analysis shows that the effect of business cycle on the entire sample is insignificant. However, if we divide the sample according to household income, health is pro-cyclical for low income groups and counter-cyclical for high income groups. We contribute to the literature by suggesting a theoretical framework to explain the relationship between economic fluctuation and health, and also by providing novel empirical results that differ from existing studies.