Seminar: Tinna Asgeirsdottir, University of Iceland.

Title: Health and Income in Iceland: An Unexpected Realtionship.

In this paper, the relationship between health and income in Iceland is examined. The case of

Iceland is interesting because the variation in health, most likely, is not due to genetics or race.The Icelandic population can make this claim because it is one of the least genetically heterogeneous countries in the world, and the least in Europe (Gulcher, et al. 2000; Helgason 2003; Helgadottir 2005). Further, in Iceland, equalitarian views motivate the centralization of the medical system. In this interesting population, we are able to ask questions that have been difficult to answer. For instance, are income-related inequalities in health effectively restrained?

The current study considers the effect of household income in the production of health, using Gallup-Iceland data from 2002. As many countries deal with the burden of expensive health care systems, an analysis of one of the most expensive and equalitarian centralized medical systems in the world, is useful. Our results show that while income influences an Icelander’s health, the statistically significant relationship between health and income in Iceland is small. In addition, we find an unexpected adverse effect of income on health at high-income levels.