Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/87464 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 13-035/V
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
Wealthier individuals engage in healthier behavior. This paper seeks to explain this phenomenon by developing a theory of health behavior, and exploiting both lottery winnings and inheritances to test the theory. We distinguish between the direct monetary cost and the indirect health cost (value of health lost) of unhealthy consumption. The health cost increases with wealth and the degree of unhealthiness, leading wealthier individuals to consume more healthy and moderately unhealthy, but fewer severely unhealthy goods. The empirical evidence presented suggests that differences in health costs may indeed provide an explanation for behavioral differences, and ultimately health outcomes, between wealth groups.
Subjects: 
consumption
health
health capital
health behavior
wealth
JEL: 
D91
I10
I12
I14
J24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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