Titling and Chronic Diseases: Evidence from A Natural Experiment in Uruguay

Date
Dec 2008
In this paper the author exploits a natural experiment to study the effects of granting formal property rights on health for households in Uruguay. Titling could improve health outcomes through various channels: housing investment, income or family cohesion. The author found that titling diminishes the probability of suffering several chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, sinusitis and rheumatism) but could not find supporting evidence for the housing channel.