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Welfare State and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Public Health Care

Author

Listed:
  • Kaisa Kotakorpi
  • Jani-Petri Laamanen

    (School of Management, University of Tampere)

Abstract
We examine the link between the welfare state and citizens’life satisfaction by using evidence from public health care services. By combining local level data on public health care, and individual level data on life satisfaction, we show that relatively high expenditures in health care have a positive exect on individuals’ life satisfaction in our data. We find some evidence for an "ends-against-the-middle" equilibrium (Epple and Romano, 1996) in the provision of public health care, where middle-income individuals prefer higher public expenditure than low-income or high-income individuals. Further, our results indicate that valuation for health care depends on individual political orientation

Suggested Citation

  • Kaisa Kotakorpi & Jani-Petri Laamanen, 2007. "Welfare State and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Public Health Care," Working Papers 0761, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tam:wpaper:0761
    as

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    File URL: http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:978-951-44-7131-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    life satisfaction; public provision; health care;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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