Arbeitspapier

Biased health perceptions and risky health behaviors: Theory and evidence

This paper investigates the role of biased health perceptions as driving forces of risky health behavior. We define absolute and relative health perception biases, illustrate their measurement in surveys and provide evidence on their relevance. Next, we decompose the theoretical effect into its extensive and intensive margin: When the extensive margin dominates, people (wrongly) believe they are healthy enough to "afford" unhealthy behavior. Finally, using three population surveys, we provide robust empirical evidence that respondents who overestimate their health are less likely to exercise and sleep enough, but more likely to eat unhealthily and drink alcohol daily.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE ; No. 1146

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Field Experiments
Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
Health Behavior
Thema
health bias
health perceptions
subjective beliefs
overconfidence
underconfidence
overoptimism
risky behavior
smoking
obesity
exercising
SF12
SAH
BASE-II

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Arni, Patrick
Dragone, Davide
Götte, Lorenz
Ziebarth, Nicolas R.
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE)
(wo)
Bologna
(wann)
2020

DOI
doi:10.6092/unibo/amsacta/6374
Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:41 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Arni, Patrick
  • Dragone, Davide
  • Götte, Lorenz
  • Ziebarth, Nicolas R.
  • Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE)

Entstanden

  • 2020

Ähnliche Objekte (12)