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Health and wellbeing spillovers of a partner's cancer diagnosis

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  • Angelini, Viola
  • Costa-Font, Joan

Abstract

Major health shocks can have far-reaching implications for the welfare of an individual's support and emotional network. This paper investigates both long-term and short-term spillover effects of a major non-communicable health shock, namely a cancer diagnosis (CD), on the health and well-being of an individual's partner. We rely on data from a longitudinal sample of individuals over fifty from 19 European countries. Our estimates provide economically relevant evidence of the spillovers of a CD on the partner's mental health and well-being. We document a robust and time persisting negative relationship between a partner's CD and several measures of well-being, which is not driven by changes in health behaviors. These findings suggest that focusing solely on the individual economic impact of a CD will likely underestimate its long-term welfare effects unless the external effects on the emotional support network are considered.

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  • Angelini, Viola & Costa-Font, Joan, 2023. "Health and wellbeing spillovers of a partner's cancer diagnosis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 422-437.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:212:y:2023:i:c:p:422-437
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.06.001
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    1. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2017. "Concordance of health states in couples: Analysis of self-reported, nurse administered and blood-based biomarker data in the UK Understanding Society panel," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 87-102.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cancer; Family spillovers; Health behaviors; Household well-being; Employment; Loneliness; Welfare effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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