Six research projects selected to investigate the impact of people’s health on society and the economy

The Health Foundation has selected six research projects to take part in its new £2 million Social and Economic Value of Health programme, designed to develop understanding of how people’s health makes a vital contribution to society and the economy.

Social and economic factors have a complex, dynamic and multi-directional relationship with people’s health. While much is known about their impact on people’s health, relatively little is understood about the impact of individuals’ health on society and the economy.

This new programme, part of the Health Foundation’s Healthy Lives strategy, aims to develop an understanding of the social and economic case for investing in strategies that maintain, protect and create health. The programme will move the focus from ill health as a burden, towards viewing people’s health as an asset that has the potential to deliver wider social and economic returns on investment.

The selected projects span a range of age groups and different social and economic outcomes. They will look at areas such as whether health status changes across the life course; whether similar experiences of health result in different outcomes across generations; and how variations in people’s mental and physical health shape their social and economic outcomes.

Six projects from universities across the UK have been awarded between £150,000 and £350,000 for research of up to three years, starting mid-2018.

The selection of these projects is currently subject to contracts being finalised with the lead organisation of each project.

The projects are:

• Social and economic consequences of health status: causal inference methods and longitudinal, intergenerational data
  University of Bristol
  This project will test how health status changes across the life course and between generations, and will estimate the social and economic return on maintaining good health.

• Life course impacts of health status on social and economic outcomes and transitions
  Loughborough University
  Using longitudinal data, this project will identify how variations in the mental and physical health of individuals shape their social and economic outcomes over their life course.

• The causal impact of health status on labour market outcomes: consequences for individuals and households
  University of Sheffield
  Using econometric techniques, this project will estimate the causal impact of health status on labour market outcomes, such as employment, productivity, wages and absenteeism.

• The economic and social value of health from childhood to later life
  UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
  This project will expand understanding of the impact that a person’s physical and mental health has on their social and economic over their life course and across generations.

• Causal effects of alcohol and mental health problems on employment outcomes: Harnessing UK Biobank and linked administrative data
  University of Glasgow
  This project will assess the causal effects of alcohol consumption and depression on social and economic outcomes, including employment, receipt of welfare benefits and income.

• Does childhood obesity hinder human capital development?
  Imperial College London
  This project aims to establish the causal pathways that link childhood obesity to human capital development and social outcomes, with a focus on educational attainment, labour market outcomes and social participation.