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To Vaccinate or to Procrastinate? That is the Prevention Question

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  • Robert Nuscheler
  • Kerstin Roeder

Abstract

Invoking Yaari's dual theory, we develop a model of individual vaccination decisions that incorporates quasi‐hyperbolic discounting, risk aversion, and information. We test the resulting hypotheses for the flu season 2010/2011 using a representative German data set. We find a significant impact of time preferences on immunization decisions. The impact of the discount factor is significantly negative for exponential discounters. While present‐biased individuals' demand for vaccination is not statistically different from the one of exponential discounters, future‐biased individuals have a significantly higher probability to vaccinate. Stratification by gender reveals that these effects are entirely driven by men. That is, time preferences have no explanatory power for the vaccination decisions of women. This also applies to risk aversion, where more risk aversion implies a significantly higher probability to vaccinate for men but not women. All information measures turn out significant. Well‐informed individuals have a much higher propensity to vaccinate than poorly informed individuals. If policy makers aim at improving immunization rates, then our results suggest that public policy should concentrate on providing easily accessible and concise information on the flu and the flu shot. Our results on time preferences and risk preferences imply a rather inactive role for public policy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Nuscheler & Kerstin Roeder, 2016. "To Vaccinate or to Procrastinate? That is the Prevention Question," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1560-1581, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:25:y:2016:i:12:p:1560-1581
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3268
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Ewan Gray’s journal round-up for 27th April 2020
      by Ewan Gray in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2020-04-27 11:00:00

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    1. Carrieri, V. & Wuebker, A., 2014. "Does the letter matter (and for everyone)? Quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of home invitation on mammography uptake," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 14/11, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Bouckaert, Nicolas & Gielen, Anne C. & Van Ourti, Tom, 2020. "It runs in the family – Influenza vaccination and spillover effects," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Yoko Ibuka & Jun-ichi Itaya & Naomi Miyazato, 2018. "An Analysis of Peer Effects on Vaccination Behavior Using a Model of Privately Provided Public Goods," CESifo Working Paper Series 6933, CESifo.
    4. Manuel Hoffmann & Roberto Mosquera & Adrian Chadi, 2019. "Vaccines at Work," TWI Research Paper Series 116, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    5. Vincenzo Carrieri & Ansgar Wuebker, 2014. "Does the Letter Matter (and for Everyone)? - Quasi-experimental Evidence on the Eff ects of Home Invitation on Mammography Uptake," Ruhr Economic Papers 0491, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    6. David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt & Mario Menegatti, 2019. "Vaccination as a trade-off between risks," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 5(3), pages 455-472, October.
    7. Bancalari, Antonella & Bernal, Pedro & Celhay, Pablo & Martinez, Sebastian & Sánchez, Maria Deni, 2023. "An Ounce of Prevention for a Pound of Cure: Efficiency of Community-Based Healthcare," IZA Discussion Papers 16350, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Vincenzo Carrieri & Ansgar Wuebker, 2016. "Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Health Information on Preventive Behaviour in Europe," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(6), pages 765-791, December.
    9. Jürgen Maurer, 2016. "Inspecting the Mechanism," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 36(7), pages 887-899, October.
    10. Bancalari, Antonella & Bernal, Pedro & Celhay, Pablo & Martinez, Sebastian & Sánchez, María Deni, 2024. "An Ounce of Prevention for a Pound of Cure: Basic Health Care and Efficiency in Health Systems," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13433, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. repec:zbw:rwirep:0491 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Simon Binder & Robert Nuscheler, 2017. "Risk‐taking in vaccination, surgery, and gambling environments: Evidence from a framed laboratory experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S3), pages 76-96, December.
    13. Richard Peter, 2021. "A fresh look at primary prevention for health risks," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1247-1254, May.
    14. Burro, Giovanni & McDonald, Rebecca & Read, Daniel & Taj, Umar, 2022. "Patience decreases with age for the poor but not for the rich: an international comparison," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 596-621.
    15. P. Battiston & M. Menegatti, 2022. "Interaction in Prevention: A General Theory and an Application to COVID-19 Pandemic," Economics Department Working Papers 2022-EP02, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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