Health and wellbeing spillovers of a partner’s cancer diagnosis

Viola Angelini and Joan Costa-Font

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Major health shocks can have far-reaching implications for the welfare of an individual's support and emotional network. This paper investigates both long-term and short-term spillover effects of a major non-communicable health shock, namely a cancer diagnosis (CD), on the health and well-being of an individual's partner. We rely on data from a longitudinal sample of individuals over fifty from 19 European countries. Our estimates provide economically relevant evidence of the spillovers of a CD on the partner's mental health and well-being. We document a robust and time persisting negative relationship between a partner's CD and several measures of well-being, which is not driven by changes in health behaviors. These findings suggest that focusing solely on the individual economic impact of a CD will likely underestimate its long-term welfare effects unless the external effects on the emotional support network are considered.

Keywords: cancer; family spillovers; health behaviors; household well-being; employment; loneliness; welfare effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2023-08-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 1, August, 2023, 212, pp. 422 - 437. ISSN: 0167-2681

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119327/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Health and wellbeing spillovers of a partner's cancer diagnosis (2023)
Working Paper: Health and Wellbeing Spillovers of a Partner’s Cancer Diagnosis (2023)
Working Paper: Health and Wellbeing Spillovers of a Partner's Cancer Diagnosis (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:119327

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