Healthy bodies and thick wallets: The dual relation between health and economic status
Healthy bodies and thick wallets: The dual relation between health and economic status
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DOI：
10.1257/jep.13.2.145
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发表时间：
1999-03-01
影响因子：
8.4
通讯作者：
Smith, JP
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Smith, JP
本文概述了健康可能改变家庭储蓄的理论原因，并提供了健康冲击对家庭财富的实证影响的证据。对储蓄的影响在数量上是巨大的，只能部分解释为自付医疗费用的增加。其他促成因素包括收入减少和预期寿命的修订。作者还深入探讨了为什么经济状况、获得医疗保健的机会和有害的个人行为被认为是不充分的解释而被拒绝的原因。新的理论强调幼儿期甚至宫内因素的长期影响，长期暴露于压力的累积效应，或宏观社会因素的反应，如收入不平等程度的上升。
This paper sketches theoretical reasons why health may alter household savings and provides evidence on the empirical impact of health shocks on household wealth. The impacts on saving are quantitatively large and only partly explained by increased out-of-pocket medical expenses. Other contributing factors include reduced earnings and a revision in life expectancy. The author also delves into reasons why economic status, access to medical care, and deleterious personal behaviors have been rejected as insufficient explanations. New theories emphasize long-term impacts of early childhood or even intrauterine factors, cumulative effects of prolonged exposures to stress, or reactions of macrosocietal factors like rising levels of income inequality.