When wealth hurts: Inheritances and the health of older Europeans

Abstract

We study the impact of inheritances on physical and mental health outcomes, using a longitudinal, cross-country dataset covering 16 European countries over 2004–2017. The results show that the receipt of an inheritance is negatively associated with BMI and being obese among women. We also find evidence of an increase in the probability of experiencing depressive symptoms among women following an inheritance. When we account for individual heterogeneity, we find that the receipt of an inheritance increases the probability of being depressed by 2.3 percentage points among women. This finding is driven by unexpected inheritances and female heirs who are less educated, unmarried, unemployed, and living in Southern European countries. In addition, the receipt of an inheritance increases the probability of women engaging in vigorous and moderate physical activities by 2.6 and 2 percentage points, respectively.