Work

The Association between the Volatility of Income and Life Expectancy in the United States

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We examine the relationship between income volatility and life expectancy in mid-sized U.S. commuting zones between 2006 and 2014. We use a commercial dataset, InfoUSA, to measure income volatility which we link to estimates of life expectancy by gender, county, race, and income. We find that higher income volatility in a county is associated with lower life expectancy, but only at the bottom of the income distribution and primarily for non-Hispanic Whites. Though we cannot extrapolate our findings to individual-level relationships, we do link them to existing literatures on place-based differences in mortality and the relationship between volatility and health.

Source: Journal of Labor Economics

DOI: 10.1086/732668

Authors: Anna L. Ziff, Emily Wiemers, V. Joseph Hotz

Institutions: Texas A&M University, Syracuse University, National Bureau of Economic Research, Duke University, University of Chicago

Language: English

Topic: Health disparities and outcomes

Subfield: Health

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging