Health, income, and individual characteristics: three microeconometric applications to older Europeans.

Summary Policies to reduce health inequalities based on income redistribution or on reducing the costs of access to care for the poorest are common to many countries. These policies are based on the fact that there is a relationship between individual income and health status. This dissertation analyzes this relationship using the ≪ Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe ≫ which covers Europeans aged 50 years and older. We show that individual income is positively and concavely associated with health (absolute income hypothesis), but also that income inequalities within a country affect all individuals in that country (strong version of the income inequality hypothesis). The underlying mechanisms of this hypothesis show that to reduce health inequalities associated with income inequalities, governments must promote investments in human and social capital. Also, individuals are sensitive to the lifestyle followed by the majority of people. Subsequently, we implement a simultaneous analysis of health and income using a full information maximum likelihood estimator. The bidirectional causality of income and health is highlighted, as well as the presence of unobservable individual characteristics common to them. Finally, on a concrete example, that of anti-smoking policies, this thesis simultaneously analyzes tobacco consumption, individual income, and risk aversion. The results highlight the importance of individual preferences in the decision to smoke. Indeed, European smokers aged 50 and over are present-oriented, such that they do not consider the harmful effects of smoking on health, and are either risk averse due to anxiety, or risk-averse because they accept to alter their health.