Economic growth and health inequities

Abstract

This essay reviews the relation between health inequities and economic growth. The general meaning of these and ancillary concepts (economic development, health inequalities) is briefly reviewed. Some studies illustrating different hypotheses on the long-run historical evolution of health inequalities are presented, and three case studies -the United States in 1920-1940 and in recent years, Finland during the expansion of the 1980s and the recession of the 1990s- are reviewed to demonstrate the evolution of health inequalities during the periods of expansion and recession in markets economies that conform to the so-called business cycle. Health inequities between ethnic groups and social classes are often found in modern societies, and some of these disparities seem to be widening. Periods of economic expansion do not seem favorable for the lessening of health inequalities. Contrarily, and counter-intuitively, evidence rather suggests that it is during periods of recession that gaps in health between privileged and disadvantaged groups tend to narrow.