IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tse/wpaper/24012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Intergenerational transmission of non-communicable chronic diseases

Author

Listed:
  • Goulão, Catarina
  • Pérez-Barahona, Agustín

Abstract

We introduce a theoretical framework that contributes to the understanding of the non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) epidemics: even if NCDs are not "biologically" communicable, they may spread due to the transmission of unhealthy activities such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and smoking. In particular, we study the intergenerational dimension of this mechanism. We found that, due to the "social" transmission of NCDs, agents choose lower health conditions and higher unhealthy activities than what is socially optimal. Taxes on unhealthy activities, that may subsidize health investments, can be used to restore the social optimum. Finally, we also observe that our model is consistent with the existence of regional asymmetries regarding the prevalence of obesity and NCDs.

Suggested Citation

  • Goulão, Catarina & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín, 2011. "Intergenerational transmission of non-communicable chronic diseases," TSE Working Papers 11-219, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:24012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/medias/doc/wp/fff/11-219.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    2. David de la Croix & Omar Licandro, 2013. "The Child is Father Of the Man: Implications for the Demographic Transition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(567), pages 236-261, March.
    3. Boucekkine, Raouf & Laffargue, Jean-Pierre, 2010. "On the distributional consequences of epidemics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 231-245, February.
    4. Carlos Bozzoli & Angus Deaton & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2009. "Adult height and childhood disease," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(4), pages 647-669, November.
    5. John, A & Pecchenino, R, 1994. "An Overlapping Generations Model of Growth and the Environment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(427), pages 1393-1410, November.
    6. Helmuth Cremer & Philippe De Donder & Darío Maldonado & Pierre Pestieau, 2012. "Taxing Sin Goods and Subsidizing Health Care," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(1), pages 101-123, March.
    7. Cropper, M L, 1981. "Measuring the Benefits from Reduced Morbidity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 235-240, May.
    8. Chen, Yuyu & Li, Hongbin, 2009. "Mother's education and child health: Is there a nurturing effect?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, March.
    9. Azariadis, Costas & Stachurski, John, 2005. "Poverty Traps," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, Elsevier.
    10. Gary D. Hansen & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "Malthus to Solow," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1205-1217, September.
    11. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Height, Health, and Cognitive Function at Older Ages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 463-467, May.
    12. Philipson, Tomas, 2000. "Economic epidemiology and infectious diseases," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 33, pages 1761-1799, Elsevier.
    13. McDonald, Scott & Roberts, Jennifer, 2006. "AIDS and economic growth: A human capital approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 228-250, June.
    14. Meng, Xin & Qian, Nancy, 2006. "The Long Run Health and Economic Consequences of Famine on Survivors: Evidence from China’s Great Famine," IZA Discussion Papers 2471, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Hypertension and happiness across nations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 218-233, March.
    16. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Lindeboom, Maarten & Portrait, France, 2007. "Long-Run Longevity Effects of a Nutritional Shock Early in Life: The Dutch Potato Famine of 1846–1847," IZA Discussion Papers 3123, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Carlos Bozzoli & Angus Deaton & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2009. "Adult height and childhood disease," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(4), pages 647-669, November.
    18. Azariadis, Costas, 1996. "The Economics of Poverty Traps: Part One: Complete Markets," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 449-496, December.
    19. Olivier Allais & Patrice Bertail & Véronique Nichèle, 2010. "The Effects of a Fat Tax on French Households' Purchases: A Nutritional Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(1), pages 228-245.
    20. Abdallah S. Daar & Peter A. Singer & Deepa Leah Persad & Stig K. Pramming & David R. Matthews & Robert Beaglehole & Alan Bernstein & Leszek K. Borysiewicz & Stephen Colagiuri & Nirmal Ganguly & Roger , 2007. "Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7169), pages 494-496, November.
    21. Fabio Mariani & Agustin Perez Barahona & Natacha Raffin, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Post-Print hal-00638730, HAL.
    22. repec:mpr:mprres:5167 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    24. repec:cor:louvrp:-2160 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. David de la Croix & Matthias Doepke, 2003. "Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1091-1113, September.
    26. Raouf Boucekkine & Rodolphe Desbordes & Hélène Latzer, 2009. "How do epidemics induce behavioral changes?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 233-264, September.
    27. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_cog_function_additional is not listed on IDEAS
    28. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Revicki, D.A. & Israel, R.G., 1986. "Relationship between body mass indices and measures of body adiposity," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 76(8), pages 992-994.
    30. Chichilnisky, Graciela & Heal, Geoffrey & Beltratti, Andrea, 1995. "The Green Golden Rule," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 175-179, August.
    31. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Richard H. Steckel, 2008. "Biological Measures of the Standard of Living," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 129-152, Winter.
    33. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Lindeboom, Maarten & Llena-Nozal, Ana & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2009. "Parental education and child health: Evidence from a schooling reform," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 109-131, January.
    35. repec:pri:rpdevs:adult_height_and_childhood_disease_allparts_102308 is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Angus Deaton, 2008. "Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 53-72, Spring.
    37. Fabio Mariani & Agustin Perez Barahona & Natacha Raffin, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-00638730, HAL.
    38. Janet Currie & Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Mother's Education and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital: Evidence from College Openings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1495-1532.
    39. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    40. Grossman, Michael, 2000. "The human capital model," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 347-408, Elsevier.
    41. Raouf Boucekkine & Bity Diene & Theophile Azomahou, 2008. "Growth Economics of Epidemics: A Review of the Theory," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 1-26.
    42. Jacobson, M.F. & Brownell, K.D., 2000. "Small taxes on soft drinks and snack foods to promote health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(6), pages 854-857.
    43. Bruce Sacerdote, 2007. "How Large are the Effects from Changes in Family Environment? A Study of Korean American Adoptees," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 119-157.
    44. Pollard, C. & Miller, M. & Woodman, R.J. & Meng, R. & Binns, C., 2009. "Changes in knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors related to fruit and vegetable consumption among Western Australian adults from 1995 to 2004," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(2), pages 355-361.
    45. Vartanian, L.R. & Schwartz, M.B. & Brownell, K.D., 2007. "Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: A systematic review and meta-analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(4), pages 667-675.
    46. Alwyn Young, 2005. "The Gift of the Dying: The Tragedy of AIDS and the Welfare of Future African Generations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 423-466.
    47. Lindeboom, Maarten & Portrait, France & van den Berg, Gerard J., 2010. "Long-run effects on longevity of a nutritional shock early in life: The Dutch Potato famine of 1846-1847," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 617-629, September.
    48. Blackburn, Keith & Cipriani, Giam Pietro, 2002. "A model of longevity, fertility and growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 187-204, February.
    49. Lester B. Lave & Eugene P. Seskin, 1971. "Health and air Pollution," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter Bohm & Allen V. Kneese (ed.), The Economics of Environment, pages 119-138, Palgrave Macmillan.
    50. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    51. Chen, Yuyu & Zhou, Li-An, 2007. "The long-term health and economic consequences of the 1959-1961 famine in China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 659-681, July.
    52. Richard H. Steckel, 1995. "Stature and the Standard of Living," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1903-1940, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. One more argument for taxing unhealthy activities
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-12-13 21:12:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian Gollier, 2020. "Cost–benefit analysis of age‐specific deconfinement strategies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(6), pages 1746-1771, December.
    2. Jiunn Wang & Laura Marsiliani & Thomas Renstrom, 2017. "Tax Reform, Unhealthy Commodities and Endogenous Health," Working Papers 2017_12, Durham University Business School.
    3. Schumacher, Ingmar & Zou, Benteng, 2015. "Threshold preferences and the environment," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 17-27.
    4. repec:ipg:wpaper:2013-015 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catarina Goulão & Agustín Pérez-Barahona, 2014. "Intergenerational Transmission of Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(3), pages 467-490, June.
    2. Natacha Raffin, 2012. "Childrens environmental health, education, and economic development," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(3), pages 996-1022, August.
    3. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 2015. "Public capital, health persistence and poverty traps," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 103-131, June.
    4. Fabio Mariani & Agustin Perez Barahona & Natacha Raffin, 2019. "Population and the environment: the role of fertility, education and life expectancy," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2019008, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    5. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Canuto, Otaviano & da Silva, Luiz Pereira, 2014. "On gender and growth: The role of intergenerational health externalities and women's occupational constraints," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 132-147.
    6. Constant, Karine & Nourry, Carine & Seegmuller, Thomas, 2014. "Population growth in polluting industrialization," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 229-247.
    7. Богомолова А. С. & Колюжнов Д. В., 2017. "Построение dsge-модели с эндогенными показателями загрязнения, здоровья и экономического развития. Building a dsge model with the endogenous levels of pollution, health and economic development," Мир экономики и управления // Вестник НГУ. Cерия: Cоциально-экономические науки, Socionet;Новосибирский государственный университет, vol. 17(3), pages 5-18.
    8. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    9. Dugan, Anna & Prskawetz, Alexia & Raffin, Natacha, 2022. "The Environment, Life Expectancy and Growth in Overlapping Generations Models: A Survey," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 01/2022, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    10. Carlotta Balestra & Davide Dottori, 2012. "Aging society, health and the environment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 1045-1076, July.
    11. Kohei Okada, 2020. "Dynamic analysis of demographic change and human capital accumulation in an R&D-based growth model," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 225-248, August.
    12. Natacha Raffin, 2014. "Education and the Political Economy of Environmental Protection," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 115-116, pages 379-407.
    13. Karine Constant, 2015. "Environmental Policy and Inequality: A Matter of Life and Death," AMSE Working Papers 1527, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    14. de Freitas, Maurício Assuero Lima & Stamford da Silva, Alexandre, 2013. "The influence of the healthcare system on optimal economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 734-742.
    15. Constant, Karine & Davin, Marion, 2021. "Pollution, children’s health and the evolution of human capital inequality," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 9-25.
    16. Constant, Karine, 2019. "Environmental policy and human capital inequality: A matter of life and death," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 134-157.
    17. Andreas Schaefer, 2020. "Inequality, survival to adulthood, and the growth drag of pollution," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 59-79.
    18. Okada, Keisuke, 2012. "The effects of female HIV/AIDS status on fertility and child health in Cambodia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 560-570.
    19. Evangelos V. Dioikitopoulos & Sugata Ghosh & Eugenia Vella, 2016. "Technological Progress, Time Perception and Environmental Sustainability," Working Papers 2016002, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    20. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2012. "The Public Economics of Increasing Longevity," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 41-74, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health capital; Chronic diseases and obesity; Social transmission;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Economic Logic blog

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:24012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tsetofr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.