Collateral damages of the great crisis in Spain. A longitudinal health study

Abstract

We evaluate the impact of the double-dip Spanish recession (2008 2014) on self-rated health. We analyse four waves of the Bank of Spain s Survey of Household Finances (2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014) and document significant differences in the probability of reporting poor self-rated health depending on age and gender. Even after adjusting for socio-economic factors, we still find remarkable inequalities among the demographic groups. Given our results, we discuss the link between financial wealth and self-rated health and how policy-makers could address health inequalities that arise from adverse economic and financial shocks