Dataset Information

Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers.

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.

SUBMITTER: Page AE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10237286 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers.

Page Abigail E AE Ruiz Milagros M Dyble Mark M Major-Smith Daniel D Migliano Andrea B AB Myers Sarah S

Evolution, medicine, and public health 20230515 1

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>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.<h4>Methodology</h4>Here, using mixed-effect models, we explore the relati ...[more]

PMID: 37274122

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Dataset Information

Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers.

Background and objectives

Methodology

Results

Conclusions and implications

Publications

Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers.

Similar Datasets

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