Financial Literacy and Investment in Health: Points of Intersection

Abstract

Unwillingness to carry out preventive measures and follow the principles of a healthy lifestyle (and, accordingly, spend money on it) can be considered as an example of irrational behavior not only from a medical point of view, but also from an economic point of view. The economic justification of the effectiveness of investments in health is not only a tool of personal financial planning for a person with a certain level of financial literacy, but also another argument for encouraging the population by the state and the employer to health–saving behavior of individuals. The proposed article is devoted to the relationship of a person's financial literacy with his decision-making about health-saving behavior and the implementation of measures aimed at reducing the risk to life and health. The results of research on financial literacy as a determinant of human health and financial literacy in the context of investing in one's health are studied on the data of the scientometric database Scopus. There has been a sharp increase in interest in this topic in the international research field since 2020. The analyzed works show that financial literacy is not determinant in health-saving behavior, but can be used as a tool for making rational decisions. Based on the theoretical analysis of normative and literary sources (domestic and foreign methodological recommendations, materials of scientific articles presented in the RSCI and Scopus database from 2000 to 2022), the main approaches to assessing the effectiveness of investments in disease prevention for an individual within the framework of personal financial planning as a way of rational decision-making are summarized. Conclusions are drawn about the complexity of independent "rational" calculation of the effectiveness of investments in health, regardless of the level of financial literacy. The assumption is made about the need to use formalized approaches in assessing investments in health as a tool for rational decision-making on the one hand, and a tool for improving health literacy.