An economic approach to the study of the relationship between housing hazards and health: The case of residential fuel poverty in France

The impact of housing hazards on health outcomes is becoming a major issue especially given the recent and on-going reviews of energy legislation in many European countries. A large body of epidemiological literature argues that fuel poverty – a frequently debated example of a housing hazard involving low indoor temperatures – is associated with heightened health risks. By using a large scale nationally representative dataset, I seek in this article to delve into this alleged association and uncover a causal relationship between fuel poverty and self-assessed health. Coming from an economics standpoint, I used a panel approach based on an instrumental fixed-effects model which allow me to analyse causality. I used both objective and subjective fuel-poverty indicators. The results show that there is a significant causal relationship between fuel poverty and self-assessed health status. The estimated causality is exacerbated when subjective fuel-poverty indicators are used. The results also show that the negative impact of fuel poverty on health is deferred, meaning that fuel poverty takes time to manifest itself in terms of poor health. In policy terms, this study adds to the debate on investing in housing energy-efficiency schemes to reduce fuel poverty and thereby improve health outcomes. It also lends support to the argument according to which improving housing conditions to curb fuel poverty is a lever for reducing pubic expenditures on health care.