Health management and health insurance purchases.

This study presents empirical research about the defensive behavior of air pollution, that is, health insurance purchases. Using transaction-level data from a large insurance company, covering more than half a million insurance contracts from nineteen cities in China from 2014 to 2018, we empirically imply that an increase of 10% in AQI leads to a 0.37% uptick in the number of daily sales of health insurance contracts by the company within the city. The effect is non-linear and is more pronounced when the AQI exceeds 200. Besides, the defensive cost for a one-unit increase in AQI accounts for around 1.70% of individual income annually. We demonstrate that the positive impact of air pollution on health insurance purchases is primarily driven by health management awareness and social interaction.

本研究提出对空气污染防御行为，即健康保险购买行为的实证研究。利用一家大型保险公司的交易级数据，覆盖了2014年至2018年间中国19个城市的超过五十万份保险合同，我们实证表明，空气指数（AQI）上升10%将导致该公司在城市内每日健康保险合同销售额增加0.37%。此效应呈非线性，且当AQI超过200时更为显著。此外，AQI每增加一个单位所带来的防御成本约占个人年收入的大约1.70%。我们证明，空气污染对健康保险购买的正向影响主要由健康管理意识和社会互动所驱动。