Anatomy of a Health Scare: Education, Income and the MMR Controversy in the UK

Dan Anderberg, Arnaud Chevalier and Jonathan Wadsworth

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: One theory for why there is an education gradient in health outcomes is that more educated individuals more quickly absorb new health-related information. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) controversy provides a case where, for a short period, some publicized research suggested that the particular childhood vaccine could have serious side-effects. As the controversy unfolded, uptake of the vaccine by more educated parents decreased relative to that of less educated parents, turning a positive education gradient into a negative one. We also consider the response in terms of uptake of other childhood vaccines and purchases of alternatives to the MMR.

Keywords: Childhood vaccinations; health outcomes; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H42 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Anatomy of a health scare: Education, income and the MMR controversy in the UK (2011)
Working Paper: Anatomy of a health scare: education, income and the MMR controversy in the UK (2009)
Working Paper: Anatomy of a Health Scare: Education, Income and the MMR Controversy in the UK (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0929

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