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38
Since a shock to current health satisfaction could affect future doctor visits, strict
exogeneity is likely to be violated, motivating the use of a first difference model rather
than a fixed effects model. Of course, for the instrument to be valid, the measurement
error in lagged reported number of doctor visits needs to be orthogonal to the
measurement error in self-reported health, and uncorrelated with true health status. Since
I use a first difference model instead of a fixed effects model, the exogeneity condition
can be written as:
1.5 0 which is equivalent to
0 -1.
Current changes in doctor visits would violate the exogeneity conditions because
health satisfaction in year t-1 could predict doctor visits in year t. Therefore, lagged
changes in doctor visits, Δ, are used instead. Using the same logic, one could argue
that Δ could be invalid because of the simultaneity of doctor visits and shocks to
health satisfaction in t-1. I cannot completely rule out this possibility when health
satisfaction is a dependent variable in the second stage, but it is much less problematic
when life satisfaction is the dependent variable. The fact that the question on doctor visits
is related to the three months prior to the survey assuages some of the concerns about
simultaneity. In addition, I use the change in lagged doctor visits, not just doctor visits in
year t-1. Using lagged changes in doctor visits and lagged traffic as instruments in the
first difference model, I remove the endogeneity caused by measurement error, but do not
38
Object Description
| Title | Essays on health and well-being |
| Author | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Author email | smith2@usc.edu; jackiesmith04@yahoo.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Economics |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-23 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 26 Apr. 2012. |
| Date published | 2012-04-26 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Easterlin, Richard A. Ham, John C. |
| Advisor (committee member) | Melguizo, Tatiana |
| Abstract | This dissertation is comprised of three chapters that use microeconometric techniques to investigate the factors that affect people’s well-being. In the first two chapters, well-being is defined as life satisfaction or health satisfaction. The first chapter explores how the movement from socialism to capitalism affected the life satisfaction and health satisfaction of East Germans relative to West Germans after reunification. The second chapter examines whether women are happier, less happy, or equally happy as men in countries at various stages of development. The third chapter examines whether pollution affects the academic performance of school children; their academic performance and achievements will have important implications for their future well-being. |
| Keyword | happiness; well-being |
| Geographic subject | Germany |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1990/2010; 2002/2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3782 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Zweig, Jacqueline Smith |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Zweig-4500 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume23/etd-Zweig-4500.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 47 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 38 Since a shock to current health satisfaction could affect future doctor visits, strict exogeneity is likely to be violated, motivating the use of a first difference model rather than a fixed effects model. Of course, for the instrument to be valid, the measurement error in lagged reported number of doctor visits needs to be orthogonal to the measurement error in self-reported health, and uncorrelated with true health status. Since I use a first difference model instead of a fixed effects model, the exogeneity condition can be written as: 1.5 0 which is equivalent to 0 -1. Current changes in doctor visits would violate the exogeneity conditions because health satisfaction in year t-1 could predict doctor visits in year t. Therefore, lagged changes in doctor visits, Δ, are used instead. Using the same logic, one could argue that Δ could be invalid because of the simultaneity of doctor visits and shocks to health satisfaction in t-1. I cannot completely rule out this possibility when health satisfaction is a dependent variable in the second stage, but it is much less problematic when life satisfaction is the dependent variable. The fact that the question on doctor visits is related to the three months prior to the survey assuages some of the concerns about simultaneity. In addition, I use the change in lagged doctor visits, not just doctor visits in year t-1. Using lagged changes in doctor visits and lagged traffic as instruments in the first difference model, I remove the endogeneity caused by measurement error, but do not 38 |
