Wealth and health in South Africa

Type Working Paper
Title Wealth and health in South Africa
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2019
URL https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02073800/document
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the impact of wealth on health in South Africa using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). We estimate a two-stage probit model with inheritance as an instrumental variable for wealth. We find no significant effect of wealth on health at the individual level, consistent with most of the results found for developed countries. Alternative specifications to the health outcomes (self-reported health versus reported diseases) as well as the introduction of gifts as an additional instrumental variable delivers similar results. In addition, we decompose wealth into liquid and illiquid wealth. Despite the health effect being higher for liquid than for non-liquid wealth, none of these measures involve substantial or significant effects on health.

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