This paper uses a direct measure of information to empirically investi­gate the determinants of consumer health information and the linkage of the information to demand for preventive care. In our analysis, two equations are estimated: (1) health information and (2) demand for pre­ventive care, which includes health information as an endogenous ex­planatory variable. Overall, the results show that more and better health information increases the probability that the elderly will use preventive care. This result, in combination with the finding that health information is not uniform among the elderly, suggests that poor information can be­come an access barrier to preventive care.

Chee-Ruey Hsieh is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Tai­pei, Taiwan; Shin-Jong Lin is an associate professor at the Department of Economics, Ming Chuan University, Taipei, Taiwan. The authors would like to thank the Taiwan Provincial Institute of Family Planning and the Population Studies Center and Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, for providing the data for this research; and two anonymous referees. Don Kenkel, Paul K. C. Liu, Chao­nan Chen, Sheng-Cheng Hu, Tsu-Tan Fu, and Jin-Tan Liu for their valuable advice and comments on earlier drafts. The authors accept responsibility for any remaining errors. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in August 1997 through July 2000 from Chee-Ruey Hsieh, The Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan.