IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/14983.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Linking Changes in Inequality in Life Expectancy and Mortality: Evidence from Denmark and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Kreiner, Claus Thustrup
  • Dahl, Gordon
  • Serena, Benjamin Ly
  • Nielsen, Torben Heien

Abstract

We decompose changing gaps in life expectancy between rich and poor into differential changes in age-specific mortality rates and differences in “survivability†. Declining age-specific mortality rates increases life expectancy, but the gain is small if the likelihood of living to this age is small (ex ante survivability) or if the expected remaining lifetime is short (ex post survivability). Lower survivability of the poor explains half of the recent rise in life expectancy inequality in the US and the entire rise in Denmark. Cardiovascular mortality declines favored the poor, but differences in lifestyle-related survivability led inequality to rise.

Suggested Citation

  • Kreiner, Claus Thustrup & Dahl, Gordon & Serena, Benjamin Ly & Nielsen, Torben Heien, 2020. "Linking Changes in Inequality in Life Expectancy and Mortality: Evidence from Denmark and the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 14983, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14983
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP14983
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2017. "Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(1 (Spring), pages 397-476.
    2. Johan P. Mackenbach & José Rubio Valverde & Barbara Artnik & Matthias Bopp & Henrik Brønnum-Hansen & Patrick Deboosere & Ramune Kalediene & Katalin Kovács & Mall Leinsalu & Pekka Martikainen & Gwenn M, 2018. "Trends in health inequalities in 27 European countries," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(25), pages 6440-6445, June.
    3. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    4. Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Torben Heien Nielsen & Benjamin Ly Serena, 2018. "Role of income mobility for the measurement of inequality in life expectancy," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(46), pages 11754-11759, November.
    5. Eduardo Arriaga, 1984. "Measuring and explaining the change in life expectancies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 21(1), pages 83-96, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Humlum, Maria Knoth & Morthorst, Marius Opstrup & Thingholm, Peter Rønø, 2022. "Sibling Spillovers and the Choice to Get Vaccinated: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," IZA Discussion Papers 15109, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gordon B. Dahl & Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Torben Heien Nielsen & Benjamin Ly Serena, 2024. "Understanding the Rise in Life Expectancy Inequality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 566-575, March.
    2. Kevin Milligan & Tammy Schirle, 2021. "The evolution of longevity: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 164-192, February.
    3. Alexander Cheung & Joseph Marchand & Patricia Mark, 2022. "Loss of Life and Labor Productivity: The Canadian Opioid Crisis," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 303-323, September.
    4. Dow, Wiiliam H & Godoey, Anna & Lowenstein, Christopher A & Reich, Michael, 2019. "Can Economic Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair? Working Paper #104-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt14f015df, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    5. Fernández Guerrico, Sofía, 2021. "The effects of trade-induced worker displacement on health and mortality in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna & Schmieder, Julia, 2019. "Mortality in midlife for subgroups in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14.
    7. Ilaria Natali & Mathias Dewatripont & Victor Ginsburgh & Michel Goldman & Patrick Legros, 2023. "Prescription opioids and economic hardship in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(9), pages 1473-1504, December.
    8. Cristina Borra & Jerònia Pons-Pons & Margarita Vilar-Rodríguez, 2020. "Austerity, healthcare provision, and health outcomes in Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 409-423, April.
    9. Janet Currie & Hannes Schwandt & Josselin Thuilliez, 2020. "Pauvreté, Egalité, Mortalité: mortality (in)equality in France and the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 197-231, January.
    10. Enghin Atalay, 2024. "A twenty-first century of solitude? Time alone and together in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-33, March.
    11. Lael Brainard, 2017. "Why Persistent Employment Disparities Matter for the Economy's Health : a speech at \"Disparities in the Labor Market: What Are We Missing?\" a research conference sponsored by the Board of ," Speech 970, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    12. Buckles, Kasey & Evans, William N. & Lieber, Ethan M.J., 2023. "The drug crisis and the living arrangements of children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Deaton, Angus, 2018. "What do self-reports of wellbeing say about life-cycle theory and policy?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 18-25.
    14. Rohde, Nicholas & Tang, Kam Ki & D’Ambrosio, Conchita & Osberg, Lars & Rao, Prasada, 2020. "Welfare-based income insecurity in the us and germany: evidence from harmonized panel data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 226-243.
    15. Dow, William H. & Godøy, Anna & Lowenstein, Christopher & Reich, Michael, 2020. "Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. McGranahan, David & Parker, Timothy, 2021. "The Opioid Epidemic: A Geography in Two Phases," Economic Research Report 327197, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Mateus Dias & Luiz Felipe Fontes, 2020. "The Effects of a Large-Scale Mental Health Reform: Evidence from Brazil," Working Papers 09, Instituto de Estudos para Políticas de Saúde.
    18. Dobis, Elizabeth A. & Stephens, Heather M. & Skidmore, Mark & Goetz, Stephan J., 2020. "Explaining the spatial variation in American life expectancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    19. Thomas K. Bauer & Matthias Giesecke & Laura M. Janisch, 2019. "The Impact of Forced Migration on Mortality: Evidence From German Pension Insurance Records," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 25-47, February.
    20. Samuel Taylor & Heather M. Stephens & Daniel Grossman, 2022. "The opioid crisis and economic distress: Consequences for population change," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 541-577, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mortality; Life expectancy; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14983. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.