Unless I’ve misread it I don’t think the linked article shows this? It shows they are correlated, but not how the causation goes, and there are many clear candidates for common causes. For example, having a serious medical condition might make it harder for you to work, reducing your income, and cause you to die sooner, reducing your life expectancy.
I would expect lower income to reduce life expectancy somewhat but for things like health, pollution, IQ, drug addiction, conscientiousness etc. to be common factors, resulting in a causal influence lower than suggested by the correlation alone.
Very true, the study definitely does not provide a causal result, and the language I used about moving people out up an income tier definitely implied a causal attitude.
I also agree that health and pollution are major factors, and would argue that people with more income have more ability to improve these factors or mitigate their impacts. Eg, more income allows better access to health care, nutrition, moving to less polluted areas or being able to pay for Asthma treatment.
Unless I’ve misread it I don’t think the linked article shows this? It shows they are correlated, but not how the causation goes, and there are many clear candidates for common causes. For example, having a serious medical condition might make it harder for you to work, reducing your income, and cause you to die sooner, reducing your life expectancy.
I would expect lower income to reduce life expectancy somewhat but for things like health, pollution, IQ, drug addiction, conscientiousness etc. to be common factors, resulting in a causal influence lower than suggested by the correlation alone.
Very true, the study definitely does not provide a causal result, and the language I used about moving people out up an income tier definitely implied a causal attitude.
I also agree that health and pollution are major factors, and would argue that people with more income have more ability to improve these factors or mitigate their impacts. Eg, more income allows better access to health care, nutrition, moving to less polluted areas or being able to pay for Asthma treatment.
Thanks for calling this out!