Does health come before wealth when it comes to well-being?

By Stephen Beech

Health always comes before wealth when it comes to personal well-being, suggests new research.

People become much less concerned about being better off than others when health enters the picture, according to the study.

Researchers found that people often compare themselves with others when making decisions regarding money, education or social standing.

But when choices involve health, they are much more likely to focus on what gives them the best personal outcome instead.

For example, a pay raise can feel disappointing if everyone else gets a bigger one, even though you are objectively better off.

But the same is not true in matters of health as considerations around social status diminish, according to the findings published in the journal Review of Behavioral Economics.

Researchers from the University of East London and the ESSCA School of Management in Angers, France, conducted two experiments involving more than 350 French people.

Participants were presented with several hypothetical choices in which they could either maximize their own outcome or choose an option that left them better off than other people — even if it meant sacrificing some personal benefit.

In non-health situations, many participants preferred to come out ahead of others.

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But that changed once health information was introduced.

Decisions involving life expectancy, surgery waiting times and health insurance shifted people away from social comparison and status and towards choosing what was best for themselves.

Study co-author Kirk Chang said: "People naturally compare themselves with others in many areas of life.

"Our research found that this changes when health information becomes part of the decision.

"Instead of asking, 'Am I better off than everyone else?', people become much more focused on what gives them the best outcome personally because the stakes are higher and more significant."

Chang, from the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London, added: "We found that this shift was strongest when the information involved life expectancy, surgery waiting times and health insurance."

The findings also showed that not all health information has the same effect.

Information about life expectancy, surgery waiting times and health insurance had the strongest influence on decision making, according to the study.

The researchers say their findings could help policymakers and healthcare bodies communicate more effectively by understanding which types of health information have the greatest influence on decision-making.