The power of beliefs: Evidence on the influence of trust on self-assessed health

Martin Ljunge

No 12-12, Discussion Papers from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper estimates the influence of trust on self-assessed health. Second generation immigrants in a broad set of European countries with ancestry from across the world are studied. There is a significant positive effect of trust on selfassessed health. Health has both intrinsic and instrumental value. The finding provides evidence for one mechanism through which trust creates desirable outcomes. Individuals with high trust feel healthier. As health may promote a more productive life, it may be one channel through which trust increases national income. The results suggest policy put more emphasis on promoting social trust.

Keywords: trust; self-assessed health; subjective health; intergenerational transmission; cultural transmission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D83 I12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2012-08-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hea and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.econ.ku.dk/english/research/publications/wp/dp_2012/1212.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1212

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics Oester Farimagsgade 5, Building 26, DK-1353 Copenhagen K., Denmark. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Hoffmann ().