Neo-Materialist Theory and the Temporal Relationship Between Income Inequality and Longevity Change.

The author challenges prior fixed effects analyses of the relationship between income inequality and population health. He argues that the temporal relationships are likely to be complex and that fixed effects approaches, though important for addressing confounding, are poorly equipped to capture potential real impacts. Longevity improved less in states with higher levels of inequality, and there is a strong negative association between change in inequality and change in longevity after adjusting for initial levels of state characteristics.