TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Bietenbeck, Jan
AU  - Maschmann, Lukas
AU  - Nilsson, Therese
AU  - Spika, Devon
        TI  - Cultural Origins of Preventive Health Care Utilization
        PY  - 2025/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18301
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18301
        AB  - We examine whether culturally transmitted time and risk preferences help explain differences in preventive health care uptake. We combine individual-level survey data from 27 European countries with country-level preference measures from the Global Preferences Survey. To isolate cultural influences from institutional and economic confounders, we focus on second-generation immigrants, who were born and currently reside in the same country -- and thus face the same institutional environment and health care system -- but whose parents originate from culturally distinct countries. We find that descendants of more patient cultures are more likely to use preventive services, while those from more risk-taking cultures are less likely to do so. These associations appear across multiple preventive care outcomes and remain robust to a wide range of socio-demographic and country-of-origin controls. The results highlight the role of culturally shaped preferences as a subtle but systematic determinant of preventive health behavior.
        KW  - patience
KW  - culture
KW  - preventive care
KW  - risk-taking
        ER  -