Positive and Negative Effects of Social Status on Longevity: Evidence from Two Literary Prizes in Japan

Shusaku Sasaki, Mika Akesaka, Hirofumi Kurokawa and Fumio Ohtake

ISER Discussion Paper from Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka

Abstract: We show evidence that receiving Japan’s Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes for literature has positive and negative effects on their recipients’ longevity. Using a dataset covering both awards, we show that recipients of the Akutagawa Prize for rising novelists exhibit lower mortality than fellow nominees. The increase of longevity is estimated at 2.4 years. Recipients of the Naoki Prize for established novelists exhibit higher mortality than fellow nominees, and the decreased longevity is 5.1 years. These results indicate that both positive and negative causal effects run from receiving a prize to longevity. Additional analyses support the possibility that positive effects are likely to be larger than a negative effect when candidates exhibit unstable socio-economic status, and then we find a positive net effect to longevity from receiving the Akutagawa Prize. In doing so, this study contributes to clarifying why earlier studies show conflicting relationships between receiving awards and recipients’ longevity.

Date: 2016-04, Revised 2017-05
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Related works:
Working Paper: Positive and Negative Effects of Social Status on Longevity:Evidence from Two Literary Prizes in Japan (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0968r

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