The Determinants of the Distribution of Mortality in Mountain States Counties

Author

Anne Israelsen Whyte, Utah State University

Date of Award

5-2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Economics and Finance

Abstract

There has been significant concern about economic equity, expressed in legislation at federal, state, and local levels affecting income distribution and access to public services. Such a large interest in equity must also extend, then, to the ultimate inequality: distribution of life spans. The purpose of this paper is to determine the significant factors that affect the distribution of mortality by county in the Mountain States. Mortality distribution is the span of differences of age at death. This is an interesting topic because mortality affects everyone. Hence, individuals who care about living longer would be interested in knowing the factors that lead to discrepancies in the distribution of mortality. In addition, local and state government officials, public health officials, health economists, and other public-policy makers interested in the factors affecting mortality and the distribution of mortality will benefit from the results of this study. Information regarding the factors affecting the distribution of mortality will allow society to direct the resources allocated to equity in a more economically efficient way.

Section II will discuss previous literature done in the area of mortality, and will also include a look at a few pertinent life expectancy studies. Section III will provide a description of the data used in this analysis, how the data was collected, and the expected results of this research. Section IV will detail the different methods and models used to analyze the data, and why each was used in this study. Section V will give the regression results and discuss the findings. Section VI will give conclusions that can be drawn from these findings. Section VII will discuss opportunities for further research in this area.

Recommended Citation

Whyte, Anne Israelsen, "The Determinants of the Distribution of Mortality in Mountain States Counties" (2006). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 756.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/756