Anticipation of deteriorating health and information avoidance

Johannes Schünemann, Holger Strulik and Timo Trimborn

No 365, University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics from University of Goettingen, Department of Economics

Abstract: The anticipation of bad future events reduces currently experienced happiness and it may through this channel elicit detrimental behavioral responses. We explore this idea in the context of endogenous health and aging. We integrate physiological aging into a life-cycle model, calibrate it with data from gerontology, and analyze how the anticipation of a deteriorating state of health affects health spending, life expectancy, and the value of life. In counterfactual computational experiments we compare behavior and outcomes of anticipating and non-anticipating individuals and find that anticipation decreases lifetime utility, health investments, and longevity. We then use the model to contribute to the literature on information avoidance. We find that anticipation provides a strong motive to avoid medical testing even when the likelihood of developing a certain disease is high and the cost for the test is low.

Keywords: Health; Anticipation; Longevity; Health Behavior; Value of Life; Information Avoidance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 D91 I12 J17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-hap, nep-hea and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Anticipation of deteriorating health and information avoidance (2023)
Working Paper: Anticipation of Deteriorating Health and Information Avoidance (2020)
Working Paper: Anticipation of Deteriorating Health and Information Avoidance (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:cegedp:365

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