Hypertension and happiness across nations

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Health Economics
Year: 2008
Volume: 27
Issue: 2
Pages: 218-233

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In surveys of well-being, countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands emerge as particularly happy while nations like Germany and Italy report lower levels of happiness. But are these kinds of findings credible? This paper provides some evidence that the answer is yes. Using data on 16 countries, it shows that happier nations report systematically lower levels of hypertension. As well as potentially validating the differences in measured happiness across nations, this suggests that blood-pressure readings might be valuable as part of a national well-being index. A new ranking of European nations' GHQ-N6 mental health scores is also given.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jhecon:v:27:y:2008:i:2:p:218-233
Journal Field
Health
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24