Three Essays on Time Preference in Health Economics

  • This thesis investigates the influence of economic preferences, in particular time preferences, on health behavior and health-related decision-making. In addition, it explores the sources of individual variation in time discounting. The core of the thesis consists of three stand-alone, but related chapters, in which multiple empirical strategies are applied. Each chapter focuses on a particular subject and contributes evidence to our knowledge on economic preferences in the field of health economics. After an introductory chapter putting the content of the thesis into context, Chapter 2 examines the relationship between maternal (time) preferences and the demand for preventive child health care. A theoretical framework for parental investments in child health prevention is presented. Based on this theoretical model, we empirically test the relationship between the economic preferences of the mother and the uptake of routine child vaccination (primary prevention) and the demand forThis thesis investigates the influence of economic preferences, in particular time preferences, on health behavior and health-related decision-making. In addition, it explores the sources of individual variation in time discounting. The core of the thesis consists of three stand-alone, but related chapters, in which multiple empirical strategies are applied. Each chapter focuses on a particular subject and contributes evidence to our knowledge on economic preferences in the field of health economics. After an introductory chapter putting the content of the thesis into context, Chapter 2 examines the relationship between maternal (time) preferences and the demand for preventive child health care. A theoretical framework for parental investments in child health prevention is presented. Based on this theoretical model, we empirically test the relationship between the economic preferences of the mother and the uptake of routine child vaccination (primary prevention) and the demand for well-child visits (secondary prevention). Maternal smoking during pregnancy is used as our main preference proxy. We argue that such adverse health behavior can reasonably be linked to a high time preference rate, low risk aversion and a low level of altruism. The results suggest that smoking during pregnancy is negatively associated with prevention activities. In Chapter 3, we test whether parental time discounting is related to child’s smoking behavior. This intergenerational setting has been highly neglected in the existing literature. Several contributions are made. For instance, we explicitly distinguish between self-control abilities/impulsivity and general time preference/patience. The results of our empirical analysis show that direct effects of parental time discounting on child smoking exist. In particular, an increase in parental patience is significantly associated with a reduction in child’s likelihood of being a smoker. The results remain robust after controlling for potential mediating factors (e.g., parental smoking behavior). Chapter 4 of this thesis contributes to the literature of preference formation. It is still not well understood if economic preferences are (mainly) exogenous or endogenous. Our analysis sheds light on this issue by investigating if people are born with innate time preferences or if time preferences are mostly shaped by environmental factors. The classical twin method is applied. It basically compares the trait similarity of monozygotic (identical) twin pairs to dizygotic (fraternal) twin pairs. The results of our biometric analysis show that genetic variation accounts for almost one quarter of the total variation in individual time preference. Hence, our estimates suggest a dominant role for environmental influences as a source of variation.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Philipp Maximilian Alexander Hübler
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-435495
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/43549
Advisor:Robert Nuscheler
Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2018
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Granting Institution:Universität Augsburg, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Date of final exam:2018/09/06
Release Date:2018/11/26
Tag:health economics; time preference; time discounting; health behavior; intergenerational transmission
GND-Keyword:Gesundheitsökonomie; Gesundheitsverhalten; Zeitpräferenz; Aufsatzsammlung
Institutes:Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre / Lehrstuhl für Finanzwissenschaft, insbesondere Gesundheitsökonomik
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
Licence (German):Deutsches Urheberrecht