Prof Kim Seonghoon is Assistant Professor of Economics at Singapore Management University and a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany. His research interests focus on health economics, labour economics, and development economics. Prof Kim's current research project examines the causal impact of public policy on economic outcomes and subjective well-being, the role of work incentives in labour productivity and welfare and behavioural effects of access to health insurance. He has also published several articles in journals such as Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Development Economics and Health Economics. He teaches Health Economics at the advanced undergraduate and Ph.D. levels and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Ohio State University. 

 


Presentation Synopsis
Does Health Insurance Make People Happier?

Many governments have implemented various reforms to increase health insurance coverage among the uninsured in the last 15 years. Much research has evaluated the effects of these healthcare reforms on outcomes such as health, healthcare utilisation, household finances, wages, and employment. However, these healthcare reforms could have a broader impact on well-being, which cannot be fully captured by objective measures, but rather, by subjective well-being (SWB), which is an individual’s self-reported overall well-being. This SWB impact is particularly important, given limited evidence on health improvements of large-scale healthcare reforms in the U.S., such as the Affordable Care Act. 

The talk will present novel, empirical evidence on how these national and state-level reforms aimed at improving access to health insurance affect happiness of individuals. The results imply that, without considering psychological benefits, we may underemphasise the true benefits of recent healthcare reforms.