Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/57570 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 1115
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
Bad health can severely disrupt a person's life. We apply matching estimators to examine how changes in subjective health status as well as different (objective) conditions of bad health affect subjective well-being. The strongest effect is in the category alcohol and drug abuse, followed by anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses, stroke, diabetes and cancer. We also take into account differences in Big Five personality traits. Adaptation to health impairments depends strongly on the health impairment examined. There is also a puzzling asymmetry: strong adverse reactions to deteriorations in health are observed alongside weak increases in well-being after health improvements.
Subjects: 
health
illness
happiness
matching estimators
propensity score matching
BHPS
JEL: 
I10
I31
C23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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