test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent

Winning big but feeling no better? The effect of lottery prizes on physical and mental health
type: Distribution
access URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00566789
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-07T14:32:13.384797
modified: 2026-05-07T14:32:13.368735

Winning big but feeling no better? The effect of lottery prizes on physical and mental health
type: Dataset
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: preprints-working-papers-
keyword: jel-i---health-education-and-welfareii3---welfare-well-being-and-poverty
keyword: mental-health
keyword: shsecohumanities-and-social-scienceseconomics-and-finance
keyword: smoking
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticspreprint
keyword: conflict-of-interest-none-declared
keyword: income
keyword: jel-i---health-education-and-welfareii1---health
keyword: jel-d---microeconomicsdd1---household-behavior-and-family-economics
keyword: self-assessed-health
keyword: drinking
landing page: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00566789
description: We use British panel data to determine the exogenous impact of income on a number of individual health outcomes: general health status, mental health, physical health problems, and health behaviours (drinking and smoking). Lottery winnings allow us to make causal statements regarding the effect of income on health, as the amount won by winners is largely exogenous. Positive income shocks have no significant effect on self-assessed overall health, but a significant positive effect on mental health. This result seems paradoxical on two levels. First, there is a well-known gradient in health status in cross-section data, and, second, general health should partly reflect mental health, so that we may expect both variables to move in the same direction. We propose a solution to the first apparent paradox by underlining the endogeneity of income. For the second, we show that lottery winnings are also associated with more smoking and social drinking. General health will reflect both mental health and the effect of these behaviours, and so may not improve following a positive income shock.
issued: 2026-05-07T14:32:13.382600
language: en
modified: 2026-05-07T14:32:13.382604