Lecture 12 – Beyond the social gradient in health

Lecturer: Dr. Ingrid van Dijk, Department of Economic History, Lund University

Date and time: 4 December 2026, 14:00-15:30 CET (Amsterdam time)

ZOOM link: https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/97031736665

Content: Social inequalities in health and survival have perhaps always existed, possibly strengthening in the last decades. For contexts where data is sparse – like in historical settings, and in developing countries – it is not always straightforward to measure social inequalities in health and mortality. In this lecture the quantification of social gaps in health and survival using incomplete data are addressed. What are alternative ways to explore inequalities in health and survival? And how can we compare differences over time and between contexts? 

Recommended reading:

• Mazumder, B. (2024). What do we know about the intergenerational transmission of health. Research Handbook on Intergenerational Inequality, 150-163.
• Murphy, M. (2011). Long-Term Effects of the Demographic Transition on Family and Kinship Networks in Britain. Population and Development Review, 37, 55–80.
• Ingrid K van Dijk, Inequality in Child Mortality Persists Between Generations in the Netherlands, 1835–1919, European Review of Economic History, 30(2), 214–241.