Abstract
Background and objectives
There is significant evidence from large-scale, industrial and post-industrial societies that greater income and wealth inequality is negatively associated with both population health and increasing health inequalities. However, whether such relationships are inevitable and should be expected to impact the health of small-scale societies as they become more market-integrated is less clear.
Methodology
Here, using mixed-effect models we explore the relationship between health, wealth, wealth inequality and health inequalities in a small-scale foraging population from the Philippines, the Agta.
Results
Across 11 camps we find small to moderate degrees of wealth inequality (maximal Gini Coefficient 0.44) which is highest in the most permanent camps, where individuals engage more heavily in the formal market. However, in both adults (n = 161) and children (n = 215) we find little evidence that either wealth or wealth inequality associates with ill health, except for one measure of nutritional condition – red blood cell count.
Conclusions and implications
We interpret these results in the light of high levels of cooperation among the Agta which may buffer against the detrimental effects of wealth inequality documented in industrial and post-industrial societies. We observe little intergenerational wealth transmission, highlighting the fluid nature of wealth, and thus wealth inequality, particularly in mobile communities. The deterioration of nutritional status, as indicated by red blood cell counts, requires further investigation before concluding the Agta's extensive cooperation networks may be beginning to breakdown in the face of increasing inequality.
There is significant evidence from large-scale, industrial and post-industrial societies that greater income and wealth inequality is negatively associated with both population health and increasing health inequalities. However, whether such relationships are inevitable and should be expected to impact the health of small-scale societies as they become more market-integrated is less clear.
Methodology
Here, using mixed-effect models we explore the relationship between health, wealth, wealth inequality and health inequalities in a small-scale foraging population from the Philippines, the Agta.
Results
Across 11 camps we find small to moderate degrees of wealth inequality (maximal Gini Coefficient 0.44) which is highest in the most permanent camps, where individuals engage more heavily in the formal market. However, in both adults (n = 161) and children (n = 215) we find little evidence that either wealth or wealth inequality associates with ill health, except for one measure of nutritional condition – red blood cell count.
Conclusions and implications
We interpret these results in the light of high levels of cooperation among the Agta which may buffer against the detrimental effects of wealth inequality documented in industrial and post-industrial societies. We observe little intergenerational wealth transmission, highlighting the fluid nature of wealth, and thus wealth inequality, particularly in mobile communities. The deterioration of nutritional status, as indicated by red blood cell counts, requires further investigation before concluding the Agta's extensive cooperation networks may be beginning to breakdown in the face of increasing inequality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | eoad015 |
| Pages (from-to) | 149-162 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Evolution, medicine, and public health |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 15 May 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 15 May 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:A.E.P. received funding from the MRC & DFID (MR/P014216/1). A.B.M. received funding from the Leverhulme Trust (RP2011-R 045). D.S. was supported by the John Templeton Foundation (grant ID: 61917).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Foundation for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.