Essays on Health-related Disparities

As the most critical conditions of human life and a significant contributor to human capability, health is the fundamental unit for a functioning society. As a construct, health is also inherently multi-dimensional, and to understand and to evaluate whether the infrastructure of a society endows fair "health opportunities" to its people can be an enduring task for both researchers and policy-makers. In this dissertation, I explore this complex and ever more relevant issue of health disparity from different angles using administrative data and extensive exploration of the literature. In particular, I analyse the geographic disparity in quality of care and the potential drivers - differential provider behaviour. Looking at health status, I investigate the disparity of health outcomes due to external economic shocks and found that individuals from economically disadvantaged areas exhibit significantly worse mental health conditions. Given the geographic disparity, I further examine how different sources of information on provider quality affect patient choice and decision to travel for care. Moreover, I survey on how the internet has facilitated the disparity in information and diverging opinions on health. Finally, from a systems perspective, I scrutinise structural characteristics in health care system design that create disparities in benefits and access. My inquiry into the complex phenomenon of health disparity presents a humble contribution to the exiting literature at the intersection of health economics, medical sociology and social epidemiology.