Income Inequality, Long A Concern Of Social Epidemiologists, Is Getting More Public Attention Epidemiologists Claim Americans In 'Equal' States Can Live 4 Years Longer

摘要

Whether it is the Occupy Wall Street movement and its descendants or some other trigger, income inequality has become a theme in the US Presidential election for 2012. And judging from even a cursory search online, the issue has become a concern in many other countries as well. The case for the importance of income inequality as a social and health risk factor has been made in compelling fashion in books by British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett entitled "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger", and by Michael Marmot in his book entitled "The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity".