UAM. Departamento de Análisis Económico, Teoría Económica e Historia Económica
Abstract
In this paper we use the Spanish Living Conditions Survey (2005‐2008) to investigate whether there is a
socioeconomic gradient in health when alternative measures of socioeconomic status, apart from income, are
considered. In particular we construct a material deprivation index that reflects some minimum standards of
quality of life, and we analyze its impact on self‐reported health. To address this issue, we use a deprivation
index that incorporates comparison effects with societal peers and we estimate health equations using a
random effects model. Furthermore, the model is extended to include a Mundlak term that corrects for the
potential correlation between the error term and the regressors. Our results reveal that the relationship
between health and income operates through comparison information with respect to societal peers. In
contrast, material deprivation in terms of financial difficulties, basic necessities and housing conditions exerts a
direct effect on individual healt