Buying Control? ‘Locus of Control’ and the Uptake of Supplementary Health Insurance

Eric Bonsang, Joan Costa-i-Font and Sonja de New
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Joan Costa-i-Font

No 9257, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper analyses the relationship between locus of control (LOC) and the demand for supplementary health insurance. Drawing on longitudinal data from Germany, we find robust evidence that individuals having an internal LOC are more likely to take up supplementary private health insurance (SUPP). The increase in the probability to have a SUPP due to one standard deviation increase in the measure of internal LOC is equivalent to an increase in household income by 14 percent. Second, we find that the positive association between self-reported health and SUPP becomes small and insignificant when we control for LOC, suggesting that LOC might be an unobserved individual trait that can explain advantageous selection into SUPP. Third, we find comparable results using data from Australia, which enhances the external validity of our results.

Keywords: private health insurance; health care use; risk aversion; locus of control; positive selection; supplementary insurance; Germany; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D15 I12 I13 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-ias, nep-isf and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Buying control? ‘Locus of control’ and the uptake of supplementary health insurance (2022)
Working Paper: Buying control? ‘Locus of control’ and the uptake of supplementary health insurance (2022)
Working Paper: Buying control ? ‘Locus of control’ and the uptake of supplementary health insurance (2022)
Working Paper: Buying Control? 'Locus of Control' and the Uptake of Supplementary Health Insurance (2021)
Working Paper: Buying Control? 'Locus of Control' and the Uptake of Supplementary Health Insurance (2021)
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