Health and Gender Health Inequalities: a longitudinal analysis using the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Health inequalities are a major concern in all European countries, however, these disparities are still marked inside societies.

The literature on health inequalities has focused mainly on single-country studies and with a limited time span such as early conditions or late life situation of individuals.

However, a cross-country longitudinal approach is fundamental to tackle the origins and evolution of health inequalities and to understand the heterogeneity of these type of disparities with a geographical perspective. In this setting, the focus on gender health disparities has not been addressed exhaustively yet.

The main approaches have proposed a biological ground under which male-female differentials in health outcomes occur; or a social approach where different health risks are associated based on the gender.

However, the economic discipline can contribute to advance the understanding of gender health inequalities by exploiting individuals and administrative data, along with novel quantitative econometric analysis; to investigate whether gender health disparities take place based on the health services provision.

This project aim to address these fundamental issues by taking advantage of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), in a cross-countries longitudinal set up.

Administrative data about the healthcare supply from EUROSTAT will be linked to understand gender health disparities.The focus of this project is critical, even more in the context of the current COVID-19 Pandemic, which have put the societal welfare under strain.

The outcomes of the project will advance the comprehension of health inequalities, help in reducing gender health disparities and support policy reforms in the healthcare systems, all over Europe.

This project will provide me with the necessary competences and enforce my econometric skills and management proficiency, to establish myself as an independent research leader in the field of health economics in Europe.