Structural social capital and health in Italy

Fiorillo, Damiano and Sabatini, Fabio (2011): Structural social capital and health in Italy.

Abstract

This paper presents the first empirical assessment of the causal relationship between social capital and health in Italy. The analysis draws on the 2000 wave of the Multipurpose Survey on Household conducted by the Italian Institute of Statistics on a representative sample of the population (n = 50,618). Our measure of social capital is the frequency of meetings with friends. Based on probit and instrumental variables estimates, we find that higher levels of social capital increase perceived good health.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: health; instrumental variables; income; social interactions; social capital; Italy
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior; H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations > H75 - State and Local Government: Health ; Education ; Welfare ; Public Pensions; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health

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