INCOME INEQUALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH—EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRALIA
利用澳大利亚家庭、收入和劳动力动态调查数据，检验收入不平等和相对剥夺对心理健康的影响，发现相对剥夺仅对心理健康有微弱负面影响，且不支持收入不平等假说。
The causal association between absolute income and health is well-established; however, the relationship between income inequality and health is not. The conclusions from the received studies vary across the region or country studied and/or the methodology employed. Using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel survey, this paper investigates the relationship between mental health and inequality in Australia. A variety of income inequality indices are calculated to test both the income inequality and relative deprivation hypotheses. We find that mental health is only adversely affected by the presence of relative deprivation to a very small degree. In addition, we do not find support for the income inequality hypothesis. Importantly, our results are robust to a number of sensitivity analyses.