Health and economic scarcity: Measuring scarcity through consumption, income and home ownership indicators in Norway

Abstract

It is widely recognised that income alone may not accurately reflect people's economic circumstances. In recent years, there has been increasing focus on multidimensional measures of economic scarcity. This study employs the newest survey data from Consumption Research Norway to explore the relationship between economic scarcity and self-reported health (SRH) in Norway. It defines economic scarcity by identifying disadvantaged social groups in terms of consumption, income and wealth/homeownership. Using propensity score matching, we compare health outcomes for economically disadvantaged and advantaged social groups – finding that consumption measures of scarcity are significantly associated with health, while there is no significant relationship between health and homeownership. When using matching estimators, health scores differ significantly between people with higher and lower incomes, but the associations are weakened when other socioeconomic variables are controlled for. This study applies empirical evidence from Norway to the existing health literature and contributes to a relatively new analytical approach by incorporating consumption into the prediction of health outcomes.

Highlights

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  Consumption measures of scarcity have a significant association with health.

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  There is no significant relationship between health and homeownership.

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  Health scores differ significantly between people with higher and lower income when using propensity score matching estimators.

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  But the associations are weakened when controlling for other socioeconomic variables.