Health and Financial Strain: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances‪.‬

1. Introduction A large body of literature has examined the relationship between health and various socioeconomic factors such as education, income, and wealth. (1) These studies find a strong positive correlation between health and socioeconomic status (SES). Yet, there is little consensus on the direction of causality, and strong evidence exists that poor health can be both a cause and consequence of SES just as SES can be a cause and consequence of poor health.