Exploring health and economic disparities in Pilar Garcia-Gomez’ inaugural lecture

In her speech, aligned with her academic chair and research interests, Garcia-Gomez examined the relationship between health and income in the Netherlands. She focused on three distinct stages of the lifecycle and used them to discuss causal relationships in the area of health economics. Her research expands on how events and policies may impact not only those directly affected, but also their families.

Stages of the lifecycle

Firstly, Garcia-Gomez addressed the working-age years. She highlighted that poor health negatively impacts income, with these effects being particularly severe for individuals from lower working-class backgrounds.

Next, she discussed the impact of illness within families, such as the employment rates among individuals with parents experiencing unexpected health issues. In the Netherlands, unlike in many other countries, people generally do not reduce their work hours in such situations. However, within households, individuals tend to work less when their spouses fall ill.

Lastly, she explored the adverse effects of health problems on entire households, especially on children. Garcia-Gomez referred to this as a ‘double penalty’, where the combination of a lower socioeconomic environment and poor health negatively influences children's future educational and labour opportunities.

Current issues

Additionally, Garcia-Gomez touched upon current issues such as environmental problems and gender equality. She referenced recent work on the effects of temperature on the health of newborns in the Netherlands, noting that these negative effects are more pronounced among pregnancies of mothers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Garcia-Gomez emphasised that her research seeks to uncover the roots of these inequalities, as understanding them is crucial for finding solutions.