An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Wealth and Health Using the Survey of Consumer Finances

Building on the sizable literature that demonstrates important relationships between health and income, we address the role of financial wealth and its associations with the health status of individuals aged 25 to 54. We describe the shape of the health gradients in income and wealth and estimate models of self-reported health in which family income and wealth are the main explanatory variables. The results from a battery of alternative estimated model specifications suggest that income and wealth are jointly significant correlates of health, and that wealth plays a stronger role for the oldest members of this age group.