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Which health conditions cause the most unhappiness?
Author(s) -
Graham Carol,
Higuera Lucas,
Lora Eduardo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.1682
Subject(s) - happiness , life satisfaction , latin americans , psychology , demographic economics , anxiety , subjective well being , economics , social psychology , political science , psychiatry , law
This paper assesses the effects of different health conditions on happiness. Based on new data for Latin America, we examine the effects of different conditions across age, gender, and income cohorts. Anxiety and pain have stronger effects than physical problems, likely because people adapt better to one‐time shocks than to constant uncertainty. The negative effects of health conditions are very large when compared with the effects of income on happiness. And, while higher peer income typically elicits envy, better peer health provides positive signals for life and health satisfaction. Health norms vary widely across countries. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.