Income-based policies in Scotland: how would they affect health and health inequalities?

Income is a key social determinant of health, but we know little about how income-based policies (e.g. changes in taxation or benefits) compare in terms of their effects on health and health inequalities. This briefing describes research carried out to fill this evidence gap for Scotland as part of the Informing Interventions to reduce health Inequalities (Triple I) project. We used the best available data and evidence to model various policies and compare how they would affect household incomes, population health, health inequalities and government revenues.

The briefing paper presents the projected policy impacts on premature mortality (death under 75 years) in Scotland after five years. The effects of a wider range of income-based policies on health and health inequalities can be modeled for different geographies, health outcomes and time periods using the interactive spreadsheet tool. 

The supplementary information provides more detailed information on the methods.