Health, Wealth, and Inequality A Contribution to the Debate about the Relationship between Inequality and Health

The relationship between material inequality and health is the subject of considerable debate and may depend on how the relationship is defined. The author uses stature as a measure I or cumulative health outcomes to illustrate that although there was an inverse relationship between inequality and health in the nineteenth century, greater average state wealth was associated with taller individual statutes. He also poses and Supports a biospatial relationship between the environment and Statute. Greater direct sunlight (insolation) produces more vitamin D, which is related to adult terminal stature. Stature increased with population density and urbanization in states with lower Population densities than the Midwest; however, stature decreased in states with population densities greater than those in the Midwest.