Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/67309 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6956
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the relationship between share prices and mental health, exploiting the availability of interview dates in the British Household Panel Survey to match the level and changes in the FTSE All Share price index to respondents over the period 1991-2008. We present evidence that the level, 6 month and yearly changes in the share price index are associated with better mental health while greater uncertainty, as measured by index volatility, is associated with poorer mental well-being. Finally, using several proxies of investor status, we find little evidence that this relationship is confined to holders of equity based assets, suggesting that the observed relationship does not arise via wealth effects. Instead, it appears as though share prices matter to mental health because they perform the role of economic barometer.
Subjects: 
share prices
economic conditions
mental health
JEL: 
J26
D12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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