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The Effect of Social Capital on Health Among European Older Adults: An Instrumental Variable Approach

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  • Maria Felice Arezzo

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Cristina Giudici

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

Abstract

One of the key policy question for an ageing population is the identifications of the factors which influence health. Very recently, an increasing interest on social capital has developed and, surprisingly, not much is known for the European population. This study analyzes the effect of structural social capital on health (measured as self-perceived health) of the individuals aged 60 or more residing in European countries. The sample comes from the fourth wave of the survey on health and retirement in Europe. We use an instrumental variables approach in order to account for the reverse causality between social capital and health. We found that structural social capital exerts a positive effect preventing people to suffer of a poor self-perceived effect. Results are robust to different estimation methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Felice Arezzo & Cristina Giudici, 2017. "The Effect of Social Capital on Health Among European Older Adults: An Instrumental Variable Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 153-166, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:134:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1411-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1411-5
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    2. Jingyue Zhang & Shicun Xu & Nan Lu, 2019. "Community-Based Cognitive Social Capital and Self-Rated Health among Older Chinese Adults: The Moderating Effects of Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-11, July.
    3. Junfeng Jiang & Jiang Song, 2022. "Health Consequences of Online Social Capital among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2277-2297, August.
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    5. Xianhua Dai & Nian Gu, 2021. "The Impact of Social Capital on Mental Health: Evidence from the China Family Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Cristina Giudici & Silvia Polettini & Alessandra Rose & Nicolas Brouard, 2019. "Which Aspects of Elderly Living Conditions are Important to Predict Mortality? The Complex Role of Family Ties at Home and in Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 1255-1283, April.
    7. Brenda Gannon & Jennifer Roberts, 2020. "Social capital: exploring the theory and empirical divide," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 899-919, March.

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