Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation Between Health and Economic Status
从理论角度分析健康如何影响家庭储蓄，并实证检验健康冲击对家庭财富的影响，发现储蓄变化主要源于收入减少和预期寿命调整，而非仅医疗支出增加。
This paper sketches theoretical reasons why health may alter household savings and provides evidence on the empirical impact of health shocks on household wealth. The impacts on saving are quantitatively large and only partly explained by increased out-of-pocket medical expenses. Other contributing factors include reduced earnings and a revision in life expectancy. The author also delves into reasons why economic status, access to medical care, and deleterious personal behaviors have been rejected as insufficient explanations. New theories emphasize long-term impacts of early childhood or even intrauterine factors, cumulative effects of prolonged exposures to stress, or reactions of macrosocietal factors like rising levels of income inequality.