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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Parental beliefs about returns to child health investments
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Pietro Biroli
  • Teodora Boneva
  • Akash Raja
  • Christopher Rauh
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Econometrics
Publisher Elsevier
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0304-4076
Volume 231
Number 1
Page Range 33 - 57
Date 2022
Abstract Text Childhood obesity has adverse health and productivity consequences and it poses negative externalities to health services. To shed light on the role of parents, we elicit parental beliefs about the returns and the persistence of a healthy diet and exercise routine in childhood. Parents believe both types of investments to improve child and adult health outcomes. Consistent with a model of taste formation, parents believe that childhood health behaviors persist into adulthood. We show that perceived returns are predictive of health investments and outcomes, and that less educated parents view the returns to health investments to be lower. Our descriptive evidence suggests that beliefs contribute to the socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes and the intergenerational transmission of obesity.
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Digital Object Identifier 10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.03.018
Other Identification Number merlin-id:19833
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Keywords Parental investments, Health, Beliefs, Inequality, Obesity