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The future’s so bright, I gotta wear sunscreen: Dispositional optimism and preferences for prioritizing health care

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  • LUYTEN, Jeroen
  • DESMET, Pieter
  • KESSELS, Roselinde
  • GOOS, Peter
  • BEUTELS, Philippe

Abstract

Priority setting in health care involves many complex social value judgments. Whereas a wide body of empirical research has emerged that describe how people make these judgments, little is known about the psychological background against which they are made. In this study, we investigate whether the character trait of dispositional optimism, i.e. anticipating a positive or negative future, influences the way people think about priority setting in health care. We do this by linking a representative sample of the Belgian population’s (N=750) responses on the Revised Life Orientation Test to their responses to a discrete choice experiment (DCE) about priority setting. We find that more pessimistic individuals are on average in worse (self-reported) health, are younger, are more likely to smoke and are less likely to have a university degree than their more optimistic counterparts. Controlling for these respondent characteristics, we find that dispositional optimism indeed matters to priority setting. “Pessimists” are less willing to invest limited resources in prevention and are less in support of prioritizing younger generations over older ones.

Suggested Citation

  • LUYTEN, Jeroen & DESMET, Pieter & KESSELS, Roselinde & GOOS, Peter & BEUTELS, Philippe, 2015. "The future’s so bright, I gotta wear sunscreen: Dispositional optimism and preferences for prioritizing health care," Working Papers 2015015, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:ant:wpaper:2015015
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equity; Prevention; Allocation; Personality; Discrete choice experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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