Testing the Relationship between Income Inequality and Life Expectancy in Selected Countries with Neutralizing Statistical Artifact

There have been many conflicting studies on income inequality and life expectancy in the past four decades. It seems that many of these studies are affected by a statistical artifact which could lead to measurement error. In this paper, after correcting the statistical artifact, we examine the relationship between Gini coefficient (as an index for income inequality) and life expectancy (as an index for public health). To this end, this study uses panel data with random effects for 19 countries (including Iran) over the period 2004 -2012. After correcting the statistical artifact, results do not suggest any particular association between income inequality and life expectancy.