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Ill-Health as a Household Norm: Evidence from Other People's Health Problems

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N Powdthavee

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Abstract

This paper presents evidence that an individual's self-assessed health (SAH) does not only suffer from systematic reporting bias and adaptation bias but is also biased owing to confounding social norm effects. Using 13 waves of the British Household Panel Survey, I am able to show that, while there is a negative and statistically significant correlation between SAH and individuals' own health problem index, this negative effect varies significantly with the average number of health problems per (other) family member. Consistent with Akerlof's (1980) social norm theory, the gap in SAH between individuals with and without health problems reduces as the average number of health problems for other household members increases. Under the assumption that SAH is endogenous, this finding suggests that the objective health of other household members could be a good instrument for self-assessed levels of health.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of York in its series Discussion Papers with number 08/21.

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Date of creation: Jul 2008
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Handle: RePEc:yor:yorken:08/21

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Related research
Keywords: Self-assessed health; subjective health; relative; norm; comparison effects; chronic illness; BHPS;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Andrew E. Clark, 2003. "Unemployment as a Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 289-322, April. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Oswald, Andrew J. & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2008. "Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1061-1077, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2005. "Unhappiness and Crime: Evidence from South Africa," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(3), pages 531-547, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. (*), Nigel Rice & Paul Contoyannis, 2001. "The impact of health on wages: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 599-622. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Doorslaer, Eddy van & Jones, Andrew M., 2003. "Inequalities in self-reported health: validation of a new approach to measurement," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 61-87, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Currie, Janet & Madrian, Brigitte C., 1999. "Health, health insurance and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 50, pages 3309-3416 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Alois Stutzer & Rafael Lalive, . "The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being," IEW - Working Papers iewwp051, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2005. "Neighbors as Negatives: Relative Earnings and Well-Being," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 120(3), pages 963-1002, August.
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  9. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Bernard M.S. van Praag, 2002. "The subjective costs of health losses due to chronic diseases. An alternative model for monetary appraisal," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(8), pages 709-722. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2003. "Are there Regional Variations in the Psychological Cost of Unemployment in South Africa?," Labor and Demography 0310006, EconWPA, revised 28 Oct 2003. [Downloadable!]
  11. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Johannesson, Magnus, 2001. "The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: results based on Swedish microdata," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 553-557. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Bruce Headey, 2006. "Happiness: Revising Set Point Theory and Dynamic Equilibrium Theory to Account for Long Term Change," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 607, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  14. Paul Contoyannis & Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice, 2004. "The dynamics of health in the British Household Panel Survey," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 473-503. [Downloadable!]
  15. Lindeboom, Maarten & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2004. "Cut-point shift and index shift in self-reported health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1083-1099, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Wim Groot & Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink & Erik Plug, 2004. "Money for health: the equivalent variation of cardiovascular diseases," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(9), pages 859-872. [Downloadable!]
  17. Cristina Hernandez-Quevedo & Andrew M Jones & Nigel Rice, . "Reporting Bias and Heterogeneity in Self-Assessed Health. Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Discussion Papers 04/18, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Stefan Boes & Rainer Winkelmann, 2006. "The Effect of Income on Positive and Negative Subjective Well-Being," Working Papers 0605, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute. [Downloadable!]
  20. Eddy van Doorslaer & Xander Koolman & Andrew M. Jones, 2004. "Explaining income-related inequalities in doctor utilisation in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 629-647. [Downloadable!]
  21. Groot, Wim, 2000. "Adaptation and scale of reference bias in self-assessments of quality of life," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 403-420, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Debra S. Dwyer & Olivia S. Mitchell, . "Health Problems as Determinants of Retirement: Are Self-Rated Measures Endogenous?," Pension Research Council Working Papers 98-7, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Andrew E. Clark & Orsolya Lelkes, 2009. "Let us pray: religious interactions in life satisfaction," PSE Working Papers 2009-01, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  2. Andrew E. Clark, 2009. "Work, jobs and well-being across the Millennium," PSE Working Papers 2009-02, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2009. "Estimating the Causal Effects of Income on Happiness," Discussion Papers 09/02, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
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