As recognized since long, consumption serving to signal social status, group membership, or self-esteem is a socially contingent activity. The corresponding expenditures are motivated mainly by the symbolic value they have for transmitting the signal. However, this presupposes some form of social coordination on what are valid, approved symbols. Unlike consumption not serving signaling purposes...

Recent theoretical work suggests that means and asset-tested social insurance programs can explain the low savings of lower income households in the U.S. We assess the validity of this hypothesis by investigating the effect of Medicaid, the health insurance program for low income women and children, on savings behavior. We do so using data on asset holdings from the Survey of Income and Program...

BACKGROUND Health risks such as tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and unhealthy body weight contribute to the development of chronic health problems. OBJECTIVE To estimate the associations of tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and obesity with healthcare expenditure and chronic diseases among South Africans on a comprehensive medical scheme. METHODS We performed a cross-sec...

Life expectancy is a common measure of population health. Macro-perspective based on aggregated data makes it possible to approximate the impact of different levels of pharmaceutical expenditure on general population health status and is often used in cross-country comparisons. The aim of the study was to determine whether there are long-run relations between life expectancy, total healthcare e...

Background: The consumption of carbonated beverages has been shown to increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. The associations between the consumption of carbonated beverages and left arterial dimension or left ventricular mass are believed to be likely related to the greater body weight of carbonated beverage drinkers relative to non-drinkers. Nonetheless, little is known about the...

In contrast to the original investigation by William Stanley Jevons, compensations of energy savings due to improved energy efficiency are mostly analyzed by providing energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions. In support of a sustainable resource management, this paper analyzes so-called rebound effects based on resource use. Material flows and associated expenditures by households allow ...

Background. Health risks such as tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and unhealthy body weight contribute to the development of chronic health problems. Objective. To estimate the associations of tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and obesity with healthcare expenditure and chronic diseases among South Africans on a comprehensive medical scheme. Methods. We performed a cross-sect...

Medicare is the largest health insurance program in the U.S. This paper analyzes the effects of Medicare on individual health incentives and outcomes resulting from the dynamic trade-off induced by insurance between moral hazard in health related choices and mortality risk. A life cycle human capital model of endogenous decisions about health insurance, medical utilization, alcohol consumption,...

Consumers' choices among foods today are influenced by a wider variety of economic and non-economic factors than ever before. These factors must be understood and forecast by marketers who, facing increasing competition in all markets, must prepare for, not simply react to, inevitable marketplace change. Economists typically have relied on four types of variables to predict food demand: consume...

BACKGROUND Inequality in households' and individuals' consumption expenditures is one of the most important aspects of health status difference among households and individuals. OBJECTIVES We investigated the impact of some macro-economic factors specially inequality factors on the Iranian rural health status since 1986 through 2012. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a longitudinal ecologic...