[R01] Experimental evidence on the relationship between income and health

Ente: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Scadenza: 2028-04-30

Importo max: 409.731 EUR

Paese: US

Descrizione

Project Summary The correlation between health and income is one of the most persistent observations in the social sciences, supported by research across countries, demographic groups, and time periods. The relationship between income and health is large, emerges early in life, and is present across many indicators considered proxies for health. Despite the striking nature of the association, there is relatively little evidence in the U.S. context on whether income has a causal impact on health outcomes, and less information on what mechanisms may be responsible for such a causal relationship if one exists. Income and health may be correlated because higher income has a direct impact on health (e.g., by allowing individuals to purchase medical care), or health may directly affect income (e.g., because poor health makes it difficult to work). It may also be the case that a third factor—such as education—influences both income and health, driving the observed correlation between the variables. Without the ability to randomize variation in income, discerning the true nature of this relationship is difficult. We propose to provide new evidence from a large-scale, randomized intervention in the U.S. on the relationship between income and mental and physical health through a randomized evaluation of a sustained unconditional cash transfer program being implemented by two non-profit organizations. This program will randomly assign participants to a treatment group that receives