These papers are the ones that first demonstrated the association within divisions of a country between income inequality and various measures of health. They overcome the difficulties of finding consistent data between countries. While there are many different measures of income distribution in use, Kawachi et. al.'s 1997 paper suggests that they are essentially equivalent in demonstrating the relationship, but choices among them may be made to emphasize, say, the potential effects of income transfers. Lynch's 1998 paper calculates the amount of excess disease suffered by the US population attributed to the extreme income inequality tolerated there.

1. Lynch JW, Kaplan GA, Pamuk ER, et al. Income inequality and mortality in metropolitan areas of the United States. Am J Public Health 1998; 88: 1074-1080.

2. Soobader, M. J. and F. B. LeClere (1999). Aggregation and the measurement of income inequality effects on morbidity. Social Science and Medicine 48(6): 733-44.

3. Kennedy BP, Kawachi I, Glass R, Prothrow SD. Income distribution, socioeconomic status, and self-rated health in the United States: multilevel analysis. British Medical Journal 1998;317(7163):917-21

4. Kaplan GA, Pamuk E, Lynch JW, Cohen RD, Balfour JL. Inequality in income and mortality in the United States: analysis of mortality and potential pathways. British Medical Journal 1996; 312: 999-1003

5. Kaplan GA. Correction: Inequality in income and mortality in the United States: analysis of mortality and potential pathways. British Medical Journal 1996; 312: 1253

6. Kennedy BP, Kawachi I, Prothrow-Stith D.Income distribution and mortality: cross-sectional ecological study of the Robin Hood index in the United States. British Medical Journal 1996 312: 1004-7.

7. Kennedy BP, Kawachi I, Prothrow-Stith D. Important correction. Income distribution and  mortality: cross sectional ecological study of the Robin Hood index in the United States. British Medical Journal 1996; 312: 1194

8. Kawachi I, Kennedy BP. The relationship of income inequality to mortality - does the choice of indicator matter? Social Science & Medicine 1997; 45: 1121-7

9. Ben-Shlomo Y, White IR, Marmot M. Does the variation in the socioeconomic characteristics of an area affect mortality? British Medical Journal 1996; 312: 1013-4