Pickett & Wilkinson - Income inequality and health: A causal review

Arguments:

• They want to prove that large income differences between rich and poor lead to increasing problems associated with low social status within societies

• They use different criteria to prove causality:

  1. Consistency → association has been replicated across settings

  2. Temporality → cause precedes the effect

  3. Strength of association → strong association not explained by other factors

  4. Dose response relationship → more exposure = increased outcomes

  5. Cessation of exposure → changes in exposure = changes in outcomes

  6. Consideration of alternative explanations → no confounding variables

  7. Biological plausibility → association fits with existing biological knowledge

  8. Coherence → association is supported by scientific knowledge