A popular topic in public health research today is that inequality, and in particular income inequality, is one of the most powerful determinants of health and the most important limitation on the quality of life in modern societies.

While a few studies have provided evidence that the greater the disparity of wealth in a society, the less healthy the population, many researchers have gone well beyond what might be warranted by the weight of evidence alone. The World Bank, World Health Organization, and National Institutes of Health have even lent more credibility to the "income inequality as health determinant theory" and its far-reaching implications such as the restructuring of important sections of our economic system.

Jeffrey Milyo of the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, will critique the income inequality hypothesis, its validity and its applicability.