The impact of financial insecurity on self-reported health: Europe in cross-national perspective

Using the EU-SILC 2008 module on over-indebtedness and financial exclusion, this paper analyses how perceived future-orientated economic insecurity alters individual self-assessed health (SAH), once controlling for past and current financial situation in a range of European countries. Those effects differ by gender and by country. Our results also suggest that country characteristics explain a larger part of the unknown variability of individual levels of SAH than individual-household characteristics. Thus, our findings might be of help in designing the most effective policies intended to alleviate the individual welfare costs of perceived financial insecurity provoked by upcoming business-cycle downturns. (c) 2023 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Using the EU-SILC 2008 module, this paper examines the impact of perceived future-orientated economic insecurity on individual self-assessed health in various European countries, taking into account past and current financial situations. The results indicate that these effects vary by gender and country. Additionally, the study finds that country characteristics explain a larger part of individual levels of self-assessed health than individual-household characteristics, offering insights for the design of policies aimed at reducing the individual welfare costs of perceived financial insecurity.