The distinction between really mastering and appearing to matter is important. For example, if it really matters, a policy devoted to income redistribution could have health benefits. If it only appears to matter, such a policy, whatever other positive or negative features it might have, will not benefit health. This is important for policy, and I return to it after considering the evidence.
In asking if money matters, two types of evidence are relevant: the relation of income to health between and within countries, and the relation of income inequality to health. I also deal with two related debates: the degree to which the apparent relation of income to health should be thought of as a question of poverty or inequality; and the role of material and psychosocial factors in generating inequalities in health. I note that there is evidence that health can affect income, but that it is not the major explanation of the link between income and health. This has been dealt with elsewhere.1
I confine my attention largely to the rich countries of the world, not because the problems of health inequalities are absent from poor countries, but because the policy questions are different—lack of sanitation, clean water, and adequate nutrition, for a start—although I suspect that some of the policy questions may not be so different.