The Association Between Income and Mortality in Texas and Taiwan - a Comparative Study of Spatial Statistics.

Chiehwen Ed Hsu, University of Maryland College Park

Abstract

Income effect on health has been established in the literature for decades. Research suggested that both income level and income inequality affect health, in opposite directions. This study examined income and spatial effect on mortality for both Texas and Taiwan. Measures of income inequality were computed for 1997, and all-cause mortality and cancer mortality for 1995-1998. In our study, ordinary least squares regression was first used to examine income effect on health, the D, I, C statistics were employed to detect spatial autocorrelation, and then linear spatial regression was used to adjust for the spatial effect. The results suggest that for Texas, income inequality positively affected all-cause mortality; while for Taiwan, income level was inversely associated with both all-cause mortality and cancer mortality, and income inequality was positively associated with cancer mortality. Income level and inequality, and all-cause mortality exhibited spatial autocorrelation in both Texas and Taiwan. The results support that in Texas, as a fully industrialized state, income inequality had an adverse effect on health; while in Taiwan, as a newly developed economy, both income level and inequality affected health, in opposite directions. The association of income on health persisted after adjusting for spatial autocorrelation.