IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v56y2003i12p2379-2390.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investments in social capital--implications of social interactions for the production of health

Author

Listed:
  • Bolin, Kristian
  • Lindgren, Björn
  • Lindström, Martin
  • Nystedt, Paul

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical model of the family as producer of health- and social capital. There are both direct and indirect returns on the production and accumulation of health- and social capital. Direct returns (the consumption motives) result since health and social capital both enhance individual welfare per se. Indirect returns (the investment motives) result since health capital increases the amount of productive time, and social capital improves the efficiency of the production technology used for producing health capital. The main prediction of the theoretical model is that the amount of social capital is positively related to the level of health; individuals with high levels of social capital are healthier than individuals with lower levels of social capital, ceteris paribus. An empirical model is estimated, using a set of individual panel data from three different time periods in Sweden. We find that social capital is positively related to the level of health capital, which supports the theoretical model. Further, we find that the level of social capital (1) declines with age, (2) is lower for those married or cohabiting, and (3) is lower for men than for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Bolin, Kristian & Lindgren, Björn & Lindström, Martin & Nystedt, Paul, 2003. "Investments in social capital--implications of social interactions for the production of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(12), pages 2379-2390, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:12:p:2379-2390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(02)00242-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:12:p:2379-2390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.