Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/93318 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8010
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The impact of socio-economic status on health has been widely recognized, but the independent impact of social status alone on health remains inconclusive. We approach this challenge by exploiting a natural experiment in which subjects undergo a shift in their social status without considerable economic impact. We gather data on 4190 scientists who were either nominated for or successfully elected to the Chinese Academy of Science or of Engineering. Being elected as an academician in China is a boost in social status (vice-ministerial level) with negligible economic impact (US$30 monthly before 2009). After correcting for two sources of bias: 1) Some potential academicians decease too young to be elected, leading to immortal-time bias in favor of academicians and 2) the endogenous relationship between health and social status, we find that the enhanced social status of becoming an academician leads to approximately 1.2-years longer life.
Subjects: 
social status
health
academician
China
JEL: 
I12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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