PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wu, Stephen
TI  - The Effects of Health Events on the Economic Status of Married Couples
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.38.1.219
DP  - 2003 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 219--230
VI  - 38
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/38/1/219.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/38/1/219.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2003 Jan 01; 38
AB  - This paper uses measures of exogenous health “shocks” to identify the different channels through which changes in health conditions affect income, wealth, and consumption behavior. The results indicate that serious health conditions have strong effects on household wealth, but that the effects for women are larger and more significant than the effects for men. The source of the asymmetry arises from the fact that general living expenses increase when wives become seriously ill, while for husbands, health shocks do not affect these expenditures.