A 'Health Kuznets' curve'? Cross-country and longitudinal evidence

The distribution of health inequalities appears to exhibit a different pattern when samples of developing countries are examined. One explanation is the existence of a health Kuznets’ curve. This paper sets out as an exploratory analysis to test the latter hypothesis of an inverse U shape pattern between both economic and health development and income inequalities in health. We draw upon two rich datasets and we use two measures of health, self -reported health and Body Mass Index (BMI). Our results are suggestive of a socioeconomic health Kuznets' curve on self-reported health but not on BMI. We find robust evidence of both cross country and time series heterogeneity which display a turning point of GDP per capita varying between US $26,000 -38,200.