Reconsidering the relationship between health and income in the UK

The present paper revisits and extends the examination of the long-run relationship between UK life expectancy and income provided by Tapia Granados (2012). Adopting a more detailed form of analysis, a clear break corresponding to the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic is identified in the long span of data examined. This finding of structural change, along with detected uncertainty regarding the orders of integration of the series examined, results in the application of split-sample analysis employing autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling. The results obtained reverse the ‘no long-run relationship’ conclusion of Tapia Granados (2012) with overwhelming evidence presented in support of a negative relationship between life expectancy and income. Our findings add to both health-income research and a burgeoning literature on the reproduction and replication of previously published empirical research.