Scholars of public health, epidemiology, and other health and social sciences argue that the current global recession should serve as a clarion call for public health researchers to think more critically about population health and health inequalities. In particular, they say that researchers should develop a better understanding of how economic, political, and cultural forms of power are unequally distributed in capitalist societies, and how these unequal power relations affect the well-being of populations. Their themes are the causes of the crisis, the crisis and its consequences for welfare services and transfers, the crisis and changes in the labor market, changes in the welfare states, changes in class inequalities, and a focus on solutions. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
This volume provides a timely collection of the most germane studies and commentaries on the complex links between recent changes in national economies, welfare regimes, social inequalities, and population health. Drs. Vicente Navarro and Carles Muntaner have selected 24 representative articles, organized around six themes, from the widely read pages of the International Journal of Health Services (2006-2013) - articles that not only challenge conventional approaches to population health but offer new insights and robust results that critically advance public health scholarship. Part I applies a social-conflict perspective to better understand how political forces, processes, and institutions precede and give rise to social inequalities, economic instability, and population health. The need to politicize dominant (neoliberal) ideologies is emphasized, given its explanatory power to elucidate unequal power relations. The next four parts focus on the health impacts of growing inequalities and economic decline on government services and transfers (Part II); labor markets and employment conditions (Part III); welfare states and regimes (Part IV); and social class relations (Part V). Part VI advocates for a more politically engaged approach to population health and presents alternative solutions to achieving egalitarian outcomes, which, in turn, improve health and reduce health inequalities. Taken together, the works in this volume reflect IJHS 's collective commitment to publishing high-impact studies, inspiring fruitful debates, and advancing the discipline in new and essential ways. Emerging and established researchers as well as students and professionals committed to health equity matters will benefit from this book's astute contributions.
Introduction
Vicente Navarro and Carles Muntaner
PART I The Causes of the Crisis
1. Neoliberalism as a Class Ideology; Or, The Political Causes of the Growth
of Inequalities
Vicente Navarro
2. The Crisis and Fiscal Policies in the Peripheral Countries of the
Eurozone
Vicente Navarro
PART II The Crisis and Its Consequences for Welfare Services and Transfers
3. The Effects of Health Care Reforms on Health Inequalities: A Review and
Analysis of the European Evidence Base
Elena Gelormino, Clare Bambra, Teresa Spadea, Silvia Bellini, and Giuseppe
Costa
4. Ditching the Single-Payer System in the National Health Service: How the
English Department of Health is Learning the Wrong Lessons from the United
States
Lucy Reynolds, Clare Gerada, and Martin McKee
5. Visits to Family Physicians or Specialists by Elderly Persons in Canada
and the United States: An Exploratory Comparative Study
Mark S. Kaplan, Nathalie Huguet, David Feeny, Bentson H. McFarland, and
Stacey S. Williams
6. Minimum Income Protection and European Integration: Trends and Levels of
Minimum Benefits in Comparative Perspective, 19902005
Kenneth Nelson
PART III The Crisis and Changes in the Labor Market
7. Employment Relations and Global Health: A Typological Study of World
Labor Markets
Haejoo Chung, Carles Muntaner, Joan Benach, and the EMCONET Network
8. The Impact of Public Employment on Health and Health Inequalities:
Evidence from China
Wei Zhang
9. Ensuring a Healthy and Productive Workforce: Comparing the Generosity of
Paid Sick Day and Sick Leave Policies in 22 Countries
Jody Heymann, Hye Jin Rho, John Schmitt, and Alison Earle
10. Overstretched and Unreciprocated Commitment: Reviewing Research on the
Occupational Health and Safety Effects of Downsizing and Job Insecurity
Michael Quinlan and Philip Bohle
11. Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Erosion Accelerates in the Recession
Elise Gould
12. How Do Macro-Level Contexts and Policies Affect the Employment Chances
of Chronically Ill and Disabled People? The Impact of Recession and
Deindustrialization
Paula Holland, Bo Burström, Margaret Whitehead, Finn Diderichsen, Espen Dahl,
Ben Barr, Lotta Nylén, Wen-Hao Chen, Karsten Thielen, Kjetil A. van der Wel,
Stephen Clayton, and Sharanjit Uppal
PART IV Changes in the Welfare States
13. Different Welfare StatesDifferent Policies? An Analysis of the
Substance of National Health Promotion Policies in Three European Countries
Elisabeth Fosse
14. Social Inequalities in Sickness: Does Welfare State Regime Type Make a
Difference? A Multilevel Analysis of Men and Women in 26 European Countries
Kjetil A. van der Wel, Espen Dahl, and Karsten Thielen
15. Welfare State Regime Life Courses: The Development of Western European
Welfare State Regimes and Age-Related Patterns of Educational Inequalities in
Self-Reported Health
Clare Bambra, Gopalakrishnan Netuveli, and Terje A. Eikemo
16. Variation of Socioeconomic Gradients in Childrens Developmental Health
Across Advanced Capitalist Societies: Analysis of 22 OECD Nations
Arjumand Siddiqi, Ichiro Kawachi, Lisa Berkman, S. V. Subramanian, and Clyde
Hertzman
17. Gender Policy Developments and Policy Regimes in 22 OECD Countries,
19792008
Mona C. Backhans, Bo Burström, and Staffan Marklund
18. Analyzing Differences in the Magnitude of Socioeconomic Inequalities in
Self-Perceived Health by Countries of Different Political Tradition in Europe
Carme Borrell, Albert Espelt, Maica Rodriguez-Sanz, Bo Burström, Carles
Muntaner, M. Isabel Pasarin, Joan Benach, Chiara Marinacci, Albert-Jan
Roskam, Maartje Schaap, Enrique Regidor, Giuseppe Costa, Paula Santana,
Patrick Deboosere, Anton Kunst, and Vicente Navarro
PART V Changes in Class Inequalities
19. Class Divisions and Health Chances in Brazil
José Alcides Figueiredo Santos
20. Wealth Inequality and Health: A Political Economy Perspective
Nadine R. Nowatzki
21. The Other Side of the Chinese Economic Miracle
Wei Zhang
PART VI Focus on Solutions
22. Social Class, Politics, and the Spirit Level: Why Income Inequality
Remains Unexplained and Unsolved
Carles Muntaner, Nanky Rai, Edwin Ng, and Haejoo Chung
23. The Solution Space: Developing Research and Policy Agendas to Eliminate
Employment-Related Health Inequalities
Carles Muntaner, Sanjeev Sridharan, Haejoo Chung, Orielle Solar, Michael
Quinlan, Montserrat Vergara, Joan Benach, and the EMCONET Network
24. Why We Dont Spend Enough on Public Health: An Alternative View
Vicente Navarro
About the Editors
About the Authors
Vicente Navarro, Carles Muntaner
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