Novel empirical evidence indicates the importance of gender identity and gender norms on individuals’ financial risk-taking. Specifically, by use of matching and by dividing male and females into those with “traditional” versus “nontraditional” gender identities, comparison of average...

In this paper, the impact of divorce ­­­on individual financial behavior is empirically examined. Evidence that divorcing individuals increase their saving rates before the divorce is presented. This may be seen as a response of the increase in background risk. After the divorce, negative...

This paper empirically assesses links between expectations of future health and income on sexual risk taking on a sample of young adults in Cape Town, South Africa. An important contribution of the paper lies in combining a wide range of variables measuring risky sexual behavior such that the...

The thesis consists of a summary and four papers, concerned with food consumption, behavior associated with overconsumption of food and analysis of the economic policy reforms designed to improve health. <p> Paper [I] estimates a hedonic price model on breakfast cereal, crisp bread and potato...</p>

In spite of increased awareness of HIV/AIDS and the lack of retroviral drugs, unprotected casual sex is still widespread in many HIV infected countries. In this paper, a two-period model for sexual decisions under uncertainty is developed. The results suggest that uncertainty of future health...

The association between socioeconomic variables and mortality for 41 000 adults Vietnamese followed from January 1999 to March 2008 are estimated using Cox's proportionally hazard models. Also, we use decomposition techniques to investigate the relative importance of socioeconomic factors for...

It is well-known that cigarette smoking and the use of other addictive goods is harmful to health. Still, some people smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol in their daily life. The consumption of addictive goods seems, therefore, to be the anti-thesis of rational behavior. In this paper, however,...