Income Comparisons and Health: Evidence from Religious Reference Groups

Income Comparisons and Health: Evidence from Religious Reference Groups | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Income Comparisons and Health: Evidence from Religious Reference Groups Aharon Katz This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9003725/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 6 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The relationship between income and health has been extensively studied, yet theassociation of relative income remains inconclusive. This study extends the analysisby examining the impact of relative income within religious groups, focusing on Jews,Muslims, and Christians in Israel. The analysis incorporates a measure of relative de-privation to compare the effects of absolute and relative income on health outcomes.An ordered probit fixed-effects model with the Mundlak correction is applied as themain specification, while robustness checks using both parametric and semiparametricpanel data models are conducted to account for potential misspecification and unob-served heterogeneity. To ensure consistency, the main model is also compared withalternative specifications in which the health outcome is restructured as a binary indi-cator of good health. The results consistently reveal a significant positive relationshipbetween absolute income and self-reported health across both the main and robustnessmodels, with the exception of one specification. In contrast, relative income, cap-tured through a deprivation measure, exhibits a statistically significant and negativeeffect on health in all models, suggesting a stronger influence than that of absolute in-come. Subgroup analyses reveal heterogeneity between religious groups, with relativeincome showing a positive association with better health for both Jewish and Mus-lim individuals. Notably, the effect is more pronounced among Muslim participants,indicating that relative income perceptions may vary in salience across cultural or reli-gious contexts.This study highlights the importance of considering relative income andreligious group differences in the income-health relationship, particularly in countrieswith strong religious affiliations. The negative effect of relative income on health sug-gests that policies addressing income disparities within religious groups could improveoverall health outcomes. JEL Codes: I14, I31, D31, C23, Z12 Relative income absolute income health status religious groups relative deprivation income inequality ordered probit health disparities Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 03 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 02 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 02 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 01 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9003725","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":617873486,"identity":"b3795f72-356b-4acf-bba6-4eb45112f351","order_by":0,"name":"Aharon Katz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQhlAMSMD6AMIDhAjBY2BmYDkrWwSRClhX9287MPH3cwGPPPb39WzVNxz5iB/fADZp4zeCy5c8x45swzDGYSxxjSbvOcKTZj4EkzYOa5gcdhNxKMmXnbGGwYjjEcu83blmDDwJDDwMzzAbcO+Rvpn8Fa5I8xthWDtfC/wa/F4EYO2BYzg2PMbEBGghmDBMgWPA4zvJFTzDizTcLY8Fgas+ScMwnGbBLPDA7OweN9uRvpmxk+ttkYzjt8/OGHNxUJhv38yQ8fvDmGx/sQAIkdJh4gwcaAPyJRAeMPopWOglEwCkbBSAIA6SBJkd0VfCQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of York","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aharon","middleName":"","lastName":"Katz","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-01 20:23:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9003725/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9003725/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106724498,"identity":"93cd10e2-86de-4d82-830d-ae546a0648d4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-12 18:28:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":391116,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"IncomeComparisonsandHealthEvidencefromReligiousReferenceGroups.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9003725/v1_covered_f42b9918-5340-4b81-98f7-26070e4f6d82.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eIncome Comparisons and Health: Evidence from Religious Reference Groups\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"the-journal-of-economic-inequality","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"joei","sideBox":"Learn more about [The Journal of Economic Inequality](http://link.springer.com/journal/10888)","snPcode":"10888","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10888/3","title":"The Journal of Economic Inequality","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Relative income, absolute income, health status, religious groups, relative deprivation, income inequality, ordered probit, health disparities","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9003725/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9003725/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe relationship between income and health has been extensively studied, yet theassociation of relative income remains inconclusive. This study extends the analysisby examining the impact of relative income within religious groups, focusing on Jews,Muslims, and Christians in Israel. The analysis incorporates a measure of relative de-privation to compare the effects of absolute and relative income on health outcomes.An ordered probit fixed-effects model with the Mundlak correction is applied as themain specification, while robustness checks using both parametric and semiparametricpanel data models are conducted to account for potential misspecification and unob-served heterogeneity. To ensure consistency, the main model is also compared withalternative specifications in which the health outcome is restructured as a binary indi-cator of good health. The results consistently reveal a significant positive relationshipbetween absolute income and self-reported health across both the main and robustnessmodels, with the exception of one specification. 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