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Research Article
Health, education and time preference
Article first published online: 20 AUG 2010
DOI: 10.1002/hec.1655
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Additional Information
How to Cite
van der Pol, M. (2011), Health, education and time preference. Health Econ., 20: 917–929. doi: 10.1002/hec.1655
Publication History
- Issue published online: 3 JUL 2011
- Article first published online: 20 AUG 2010
- Manuscript Accepted: 14 JUL 2010
- Manuscript Revised: 6 JUL 2010
- Manuscript Received: 3 JUL 2009
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- education;
- health;
- time preference
Abstract
Education has been shown to be the most important correlate of health. However, the mechanism through which education influences health has been largely unexplained. Grossman argued that education improves health production efficiency. In contrast, Fuchs argued that the association between health and education is not primarily causal but reflects unobserved causes of both outcomes. Instead of education causing better health, some ‘third’ variables may be related to both education and health. The ‘third’ variable most frequently mentioned is time preference. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of time preference in the relationship between education and health. The role of risk attitude is also investigated. The paper exploits a unique data set of households that incorporated stated preference questions eliciting individuals' time preferences. The results show that the effect of education reduces but does not disappear when controlling for individuals' time preferences. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.