Culture and Health

Marcella Alsan and Yousra Neberai

NBER Working Paper No. 34134, August 2025
Forthcoming, Handbook of Culture and Economic Behavior

This chapter explores the multifaceted relationship between culture and health from an economic perspective, integrating insights from anthropology, psychology, and political science. It begins by examining how culture provides meaning to illness and suffering and explores how culturally grounded “disease theory systems” influence beliefs about what causes illness, how and whether suffering should be remedied, and the appropriate role of the state in allocating health care resources. The importance of culture in defining the boundary between normal and abnormal pathology is highlighted via case studies. The chapter next reviews evidence on how health behaviors such as smoking, firearm ownership, dietary practices, and reproductive decisions are influenced by cultural norms of masculinity and religiosity. Lastly, it examines how firms, governments, and civil society leverage and advance cultural narratives to influence individual behavior and public policy. Thus, culture in relation to health both naturally evolves and is actively constructed, with implications for health inequality and health policy.