Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/109112 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 1011
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
This essay contributes in two ways to the literature on the effects of economic circumstances on health. First, it deals with reverse causality and omitted variable bias by exploiting exogenous variation in inherited wealth generated by the unexpected repeal of the Swedish inheritance tax. Second, it analyzes responses in health outcomes from administrative registers. The results show that increased wealth has limited impacts on objective adult health over a period of six years. This is in line with what has been documented previously regarding subjective health outcomes. If anything, it appears as if the wealth shock resulting from the tax reform leads people to seek care for symptoms of disease, which result in that cancer is detected and possibly treated earlier. One possible explanation for this preventive response is that good health is needed for enjoying the improved consumption prospects generated by the wealth shock.
Subjects: 
Inheritances
Tax reform
Wealth shock
Objective health
JEL: 
D10
H30
I10
I12
I14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
673.76 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.