 Furthermore, it is not clear how much of the correlation between health and a given social variable is properly causal in the first place. In some cases, there is clearly some “reverse causation” between health and a social variable, notably from poor health to lower income (Bleakley 2010; J. Smith 2009; Deaton 2002) and from poor health to less education and lower occupational rank (Case, Fertig, &amp; Paxson 2005). Similarly, there is evidence of a bidirectional relationship between income and mental illness (Ridley et al. 2020). In addition, there is plainly some causation among social variables, notably from education both to higher income and to higher occupational status. Similarly, while there is evidence that racism contributes directly to poorer health outcomes among racial and ethnic minorities, for example, by means of racism-related stress, it also contributes to racial and ethnic minorities having lower incomes, worse educational outcomes, and lower occupational status (Williams, Lawrence, &amp; Davis 2019).