title: The Impact of Fiscal Policies on the Socioeconomic Determinants of Health.
abstract: There has been considerable recent debate around the alleged impact of discretionary fiscal policies - especially austerity policies - on health and health inequalities. Assuming that most of the impact will have to run via the effect of fiscal policies on socioeconomic determinants of health (SDH), it is of interest to gain a further understanding of the relationship between fiscal policies and SDH. Therefore, the aim of this article is to review the recent evidence on the impact of discretionary fiscal policies on key SDH, i.e. income, poverty, education, and employment, in high income OECD countries. We find that there are no simple answers as to how fiscal policy affects those determinants of health. The effects of contractionary and expansionary fiscal policies on the analyzed SDH vary considerably across countries and will largely depend on the pre-crisis situation. Contractionary fiscal policies seem to have increased poverty, while their impact on income inequality will be influenced by the composition of the implemented measures. More empirical research trying to directly link fiscal policies to health outcomes, while taking into account of some of the mechanisms encountered here, would be worthwhile.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Sociology 2, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mosquera
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Sociology 2, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: González-Rábago
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Sociology 2, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
authors.forename: Amaia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bacigalupe
authors.affiliation: 2 Centre for Health Economics (CHE), University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suhrcke
mesh_terms: D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D011203:Poverty; D064890:Social Determinants of Health; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: austerity; employment; fiscal policy; fiscal stimulus; health; income; poverty; socioeconomic determinants of health