We study the effect of permanent income innovations on health for a prime-aged population. Using information on more than half a million individuals sampled over a twenty-five year period in three different cross-sectional surveys we aggregate data by date-of-birth cohort to construct a 'synthetic cohort' dataset with details of income, expenditure, socio-demographic factors, health outcomes and selected risk factors. We then exploit structural and arguably exogenous changes in cohort incomes over the eighties and nineties to uncover causal effects of permanent income shocks on health. We find that such income innovations have little effects on health, but do affect health behaviour and mortality.
More papers in IFS Working Papers from Institute for Fiscal Studies Address: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE Series data maintained by Emma Hyman ().
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