| 1. |
- Akay, Alpaslan, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Relative concerns and sleep behavior
- 2019
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1570-677X .- 1873-6130. ; 33, s. 1-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the relationship between relative concerns with respect to income and the quantity and quality of sleep using a 6-year panel dataset on the sleep behavior of people in Germany. We find a substantial negative association between relative income and number of hours of sleep and satisfaction with sleep, i.e., sleep quality, whereas there is no particular association between absolute level of income and sleep quantity and quality. A 10-percent increase in the income of relevant others is associated with 6–8 min decrease in a person's weekly amount of sleep on average, yet this effect is particularly strong among the relatively deprived, i.e., upward comparers, as this group shows a corresponding decrease in sleeping time of 10–12 min/week. These findings are highly robust to several specification checks, including measures of relative concerns, reference group, income inequality, and local price differences. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the relationship is mainly driven by people with relatively fewer working hours, a higher demand for household production and leisure activities, and lower physical health and well-being. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
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| 2. |
- Almond, Douglas, et al.
(författare)
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An adaptive significance of morning sickness? Trivers-Willard and Hyperemesis Gravidarum
- 2016
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1570-677X .- 1873-6130. ; 21, s. 167-171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nausea during pregnancy, with or without vomiting, is a common early indication of pregnancy in humans. The severe form, Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), can be fatal. The aetiology of HG is unknown. We propose that HG may be a proximate mechanism for the Trivers-Willard (T-W) evolutionary hypothesis that mothers in poor condition should favor daughters. Using Swedish linked registry data, 1987-2005, we analyze all pregnancies that resulted in an HG admission and/or a live birth, 1.65 million pregnancies in all. Consistent with the T-W hypothesis, we find that: (i) HG is associated with poor maternal condition as proxied by low education; (ii) HG in the first two months of pregnancy is associated with a 7% point increase in live girl births; and (iii) HG affected pregnancies have a 34-percent average rate of inferred pregnancy loss, higher among less educated women.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Brilli, Ylenia, et al.
(författare)
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Birth weight, neonatal care, and infant mortality: Evidence from macrosomic babies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1570-677X .- 1873-6130. ; 37
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2019 This study demonstrates that rule-of-thumb health treatment decision-making exists when assigning medical care to macrosomic newborns with an extremely high birth weight and estimates the short-run health return to neonatal care for infants at the high end of the birth weight distribution. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that infants born with a birth weight above 5000-gram have a 2 percentage-point higher probability of admission to a neonatal intensive care unit and a 1 percentage-point higher probability of antibiotics receipt, compared to infants with a birth weight below 5000-gram. We also find that being born above the 5000-gram cutoff has a mortality-reducing effect: infants with a birth weight larger than 5000-gram face a 0.15 percentage-point lower risk of mortality in the first week and a 0.20 percentage-point lower risk of mortality in the first month, compared to their counterparts with a birth weight below 5000-gram. We do not find any evidence of changes in health treatments and mortality at macrosomic cutoffs lower than 5000-gram, which is consistent with the idea that such treatment decisions are guided by the higher expected morbidity and mortality risk associated with infants weighing more than 5000-gram.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Eliason, Marcus
(författare)
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The financial situation before and after first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorder
- 2023
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier. - 1570-677X .- 1873-6130. ; 49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorders are severe mental illnesses (SMIs) that not only entail great suffering for those affected but also major societal costs. In this study, I use administrative register data to provide a detailed picture of the financial situation of people with SMI in Sweden during a period of +/- 10 years around first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorders. Receiving a diagnosis was associated with a considerable drop in earnings, which was largely compensated for by social transfers: mainly sickness and disability insurance. However, there were also large and increasing pre-diagnosis earnings gaps, relative to matched comparison groups, especially among those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. These gaps were to a lesser extent compensated for by social transfers. Consequently, there were permanent and increasing - due to lost earnings growth - income differentials. Hence, findings in previous studies are confirmed: even in an advanced welfare state, people with SMI - especially those with schizophrenia - have an extremely weak position on the labour market and an equally difficult financial situation.
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| 7. |
- Gerdtham, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Deaths rise in good economic times: evidence from the OECD.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6130 .- 1570-677X. ; 4:3, s. 298-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study uses aggregate data for 23 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over the 1960-1997 period to examine the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and deaths. The main finding is that total mortality and deaths from several common causes rise when labor markets strengthen. For instance, controlling for year effects, location fixed-effects (FE), country-specific time trends and demographic characteristics, a 1% point decrease in the national unemployment rate is associated with growth of 0.4% in total mortality and the following increases in cause-specific mortality: 0.4% for cardiovascular disease, 1.1% for influenza/pneumonia, 1.8% for liver disease, 2.1% for motor vehicle deaths, and 0.8% for other accidents. These effects are particularly pronounced for countries with weak social insurance systems, as proxied by public social expenditure as a share of GDP. The findings are consistent with evidence provided by other recent research and cast doubt on the hypothesis that economic downturns have negative effects on physical health. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Gwozdz, W., et al.
(författare)
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Peer effects on obesity in a sample of European children
- 2015
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Ingår i: Economics & Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1570-677X .- 1873-6130. ; 18, s. 139-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study analyzes peer effects on childhood obesity using data from the first two waves of the IDEFICS study, which applies several anthropometric and other measures of fatness to approximately 14,000 children aged two to nine participating in both waves in 16 regions of eight European countries. Peers are defined as same-sex children in the same school and age group. The results show that peer effects do exist in this European sample but that they differ among both regions and different fatness measures. Peer effects are larger in Spain, Italy, and Cyprus - the more collectivist regions in our sample - while waist circumference generally gives rise to larger peer effects than BMI. We also provide evidence that parental misperceptions of their own children's weight goes hand in hand With fatter peer groups, supporting the notion that in making such assessments, parents compare their children's weight with that of friends and schoolmates.
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| 9. |
- Islam, Kamrul, et al.
(författare)
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Social capital externalities and mortality in Sweden.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6130 .- 1570-677X. ; 6:1, s. 19-42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We conceptualize social capital as an aggregate factor affecting health production and analyze the effect of community social capital (CSC) externalities on individual mortality risk in Sweden. The study was based on a random sample from the adult Swedish population of approximately 95,000 individuals who were followed up for 4-21 years. Two municipality-level variables - registered election participation rate and registered crime rate - were used to be a proxy for CSC. The impact of CSC on mortality was estimated with an extended Cox model, controlling for the initial health status and a number of individual characteristics. The results indicate that both proxies of CSC were associated with individual risk from all-cause mortality for males older than 65+ (p=0.013 and p=0.008) but not for females. A higher election participation rate negatively and significantly associated with the mortality risk from cancer for males (p=0.007), and may also have exerted protective associations for cardiovascular mortality (p=0.134) and deaths due to "suicide" (p=0.186) or "other external causes" (p=0.055). Similar associations were observed for the crime rate variable. The findings were robust to alternative specifications examined in the sensitivity analysis.
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| 10. |
- Lundborg, Petter, et al.
(författare)
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Nature, nurture and socioeconomic policy-What can we learn from molecular genetics?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Economics and Human Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6130 .- 1570-677X. ; 8, s. 320-330
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many countries use public resources to compensate individuals with genetic disorders, identified by behaviors/symptoms such as chronic diseases and disabilities. This paper draws attention to molecular genetic research which may provide a new dimension to our understanding of how socioeconomic outcomes are generated. We provide an overview of the recently emerging evidence of gene-environment interaction effects. This literature points out specific areas where policies may compensate groups of individuals carrying genetic risks, without the need to identify anyone's genetic endowments. Moreover, epigenetics studies, which concern heritable changes in gene functions that occur independently of the DNA sequence, have shown that environments may affect heritable traits across generations. It means that policies which neutralize adverse environments may also increase intergenerational mobility, given that genetic and/or environmental risk factors are more common in socially disadvantaged groups.
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