Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/110164 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8912
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses data from the 2002-2005-2008 waves of the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF) to investigate whether debts burdens hamper people's health. Several measures of debt strain are constructed, including debt-to-income ratios, the existence of debt arrears and amounts of outstanding debts. The paper also differentiates between mortgage and non-mortgage debts and explores the role of social norm effects in the debt-health relationship. The results, based on a random effects model extended to include a Mundlak term, show that non-mortgage debt payments and debt arrears affect significantly people's health. Furthermore, mild social norm effects are detected, according to which being less indebted than the reference group results, ceteris paribus, in better health.
Subjects: 
over-indebtedness
self-assessed health
random effects model
social norm effects
JEL: 
G01
I13
I22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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