Essays on the Measurement of Health Inequalities in Mexico

This thesis is about health inequalities in Mexico. The first essay explores the acute obesity crisis in Mexico considering inequality of opportunity. Using John Roemer's framework, \textit{ex-ante} inequality is measured, identified, and characterised in body mass index and waist circumference. Results show that inequalities related to circumstances exist and vary across the whole distribution for both outcomes. Parental health conditions and the geographic region where individuals live are the two main drivers of inequities. The second essay focuses on overcoming the lack of panel data when analysing health inequalities across the lifespan. Using matching and re-weighting methods, a pseudo birth cohort is constructed and the accumulation and intergenerational transmission of \textit{ex-ante} and \textit{ex-post} inequalities in malnutrition are measured. Results indicate that inequities have been persistent across the life course of the birth cohort studied and that lack of opportunities has been transmitted from parents to children. We found consistent evidence pointing out that circumstances are the main driver of inequality in under nutritional outcomes. However, we did not find conclusive evidence that efforts are the main driver of variation in over nutritional outcomes. The third essay investigates the factors behind greater health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous people in COVID-19 outcomes in Mexico. Using national and administrative public data and making use of a non-linear version of the Oaxaca decomposition method, explained and unexplained differences in hospitalisations and deaths between indigenous and non-indigenous groups are identified and characterised. We find that health disparities are mainly attributable to differences in people’s characteristics and that underlying health conditions and household, and municipal socioeconomic characteristics are the main drivers of observable inequalities in hospitalisations and deaths due to COVID-19.