Smoking inequality across genders and socio-economic positions. Evidence from Italian data
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Smoking inequality across genders and socio-economic positions. Evidence from Italian data Cinzia Di Novi1,2,3 · Rowena Jacobs4 · Matteo Migheli5
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract There has been a dearth of literature on smoking inequalities, in spite of its contribution to health inequalities. We exploit Italian individual-level data from repeated cross-sections of the annual household survey, “Aspects of Daily Life,” that was part of the Multipurpose Survey carried out by the Italian National Statistical Office (ISTAT) for the period 1999–2012 to identify the main socio-demographic characteristics that determine smoking inequalities. We use the Concentration Index to identify in which groups smoking is relatively more prevalent. We find that, among men, prorich inequality is driven by members of the lower socio-economic positions, while we observe the opposite for women. We encourage policymakers to address the issue of smoking inequalities, which the current policies have largely disregarded. Keywords Smoking inequality · Italy · Gender · Socio-economic positions JEL Codes I14 · I18 · J16
1 Introduction There exists a substantial literature showing that a healthier lifestyle is one of the key driving factors for good health (Contoyannis and Jones 2004; Balia and Jones 2008; Di Novi 2010, 2013). However, the literature also shows that healthier lifestyles is generally distributed disproportionately according to socioeconomic position indica-
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Matteo Migheli [email protected]
1
Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
2
Health, Econometrics and Data Group, University of York, York, UK
3
LCSR, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
4
Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK
5
Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Torino, Lungo Dora Siena, 100 Torino, Italy
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tors such as education, occupation, and income, which shape individuals’ behaviours leading to inequalities in health outcomes i.e. health disparities between people of different socio-economic conditions (Mackenbach 2006; Baker 2014; Bambra et al. 2016). As international institutions and governments enact laws and implement policies to decrease socioeconomic inequalities, so they do with health inequalities (HIs), on the one side, because the latter are related to the former and vice-versa, on the other, as health inequality hinders human development. Indeed, Woodward and Kawachi (2000) highlight that such an inequality is unfair and avoidable through public programs; in addition, as it engenders negative externalities, its reduction benefits the entire population. However, health depends also on individuals’ behaviours: drinking alcohol, smoking, neglecting physical exercise are examples of behaviours that hinder one’s health. Studying these behaviours and their causes may therefore help to design and implement effective policies to reduce HIs; in particular, the three mentioned before are among the most wide
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