Economic Status as a Determinant of Mortality Among Black and White Older Men: Does Poverty Kill?

The evidence presented in this paper shows that differential mortality by economic status is strongly present in the United States today, and that this relationship is monotonic, with men's death rates being lower among the wealthier. Also, the greater the number of spells of poverty, the higher the death rate. These data suggest that differential mortality rates by economic status are being confused with the well-known ethnic differences in mortality. An implication of this paper, therefore, is that ethnic differences in mortality are, in large part, a consequence of poverty or permanent low income, as opposed to genotype. Consequently, it may be just as valid, or even more so, to publish mortality tables by income as by race. A policy implication of this paper is that the redistributive effects of longevity-based transfer systems, such as social security (public pensions), may be less ‘progressive’ than has been assumed, since would-be poorer recipients are either less likely to live long enough to collect any benefits in the first place, or will not live to collect them for as long as more affluent recipients. In addition, I have failed to find a direct effect of schooling on probability of survival. Hence, the beneficial effect of schooling on longevity must work through its effect upon income, with only the latter directly influencing mortality risks.