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Happiness as a driver of risk-avoiding behaviour : theory and an empirical study of seatbelt wearing and automobile accidents
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Goudie, Robert J. B., Mukherjee, Sach, de Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, Oswald, Andrew J. and Wu, Stephen (2014) Happiness as a driver of risk-avoiding behaviour : theory and an empirical study of seatbelt wearing and automobile accidents. Economica, 81 (324). pp. 674-697. doi:10.1111/ecca.12094 ISSN 0013-0427.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12094
Abstract
Governments try to discourage risky health behaviours, yet such behaviours are bewilderingly persistent. We suggest a new conceptual approach to this puzzle. We show that expected utility theory predicts that unhappy people will be attracted to risk-taking. Using US seatbelt data, we document evidence strongly consistent with that prediction. We exploit various methodological approaches, including Bayesian model selection and instrumental variable estimation. Using road accident data, we find strongly corroborative longitudinal evidence. Government policy may thus have to change. It may need to improve the underlying happiness of individuals instead of, or in addition to, its traditional concern with society's risk-taking symptoms.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Risk-taking (Psychology), Automobiles -- Seat belts, Well-being | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Economica | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Blackwell Publishing | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0013-0427 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | October 2014 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 81 | ||||||||
| Number: | 324 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 674-697 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1111/ecca.12094 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 2 February 2017 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 2 February 2017 | ||||||||
| Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
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