Self-assessed survival probability and supply of medical doctors

Abstract

ABSTRACT Self-assessed survival probability is a variable crucially affecting subjective wellbeing and individual (consumption, saving, retirement) economic choices. Bridging a gap in the literature we investigate its determinants, finding a positive and significant effect of the density of physicians at national level. The impact is stronger in the subsamples of individuals declaring low self-assessed health status, limitations in daily activities, and shortage of money. Our findings are robust when we instrument our main variable of interest with the parliaments’ political orientation and their dispersion. We show that our empirical results find correspondence in a negative link between the density of medical doctors and amenable deaths as an ‘objective’ health outcome. Our rationale for the emerging relationship is that individuals take physicians’ density as a proxy of the health system’s quality. Our results provide support for the relevance of public policies that address the shortage of medical doctors among those who improve the quality of national health systems.