IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lev/wrkpap/wp_367.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Persistence of Hardship Over the Life Course

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas L. Hungerford

Abstract

This paper focuses on the persistence of hardship from middle age to old age. Proposed status maintenance models suggest that stratification of economic status occurs over the life course (e.g., little mobility is seen within the income distribution). Some studies have found evidence to support this, but none have looked at broader measures of well-being. Using 29 years (1968-96) of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the author employs hypothesis tests (t-tests) and logistic regression techniques to examine the relationship between middle-age chronic hardships and adverse old-age outcomes. In almost every case, individuals who experience middle-age chronic hardships are significantly (statistically) more likely to experience adverse old-age outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas L. Hungerford, 2002. "The Persistence of Hardship Over the Life Course," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_367, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp367.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moshe Buchinsky & Jennifer Hunt, 1999. "Wage Mobility In The United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 351-368, August.
    2. Idler, E.L. & Angel, R.J., 1990. "Self-rated health and mortality in the NHANES-I epidemiologic follow-up study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 80(4), pages 446-452.
    3. Dwyer, Debra Sabatini & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1999. "Health problems as determinants of retirement: Are self-rated measures endogenous?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 173-193, April.
    4. Deaton, Angus & Paxson, Christina, 1994. "Intertemporal Choice and Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(3), pages 437-467, June.
    5. Burkhauser, Richard V & Duncan, Greg J, 1991. "United States Public Policy and the Elderly: The Disproportionate Risk to the Well-Being of Women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 4(3), pages 217-231, August.
    6. John Murray, 2000. "Marital protection and marital selection: Evidence from a historical-prospective sample of American men," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 511-521, November.
    7. Arthur B. Kennickell & Martha Starr-McCluer & Brian J. Surette, 2000. "Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Results from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 86(1), pages .1-29, January.
    8. Wilson, Chris M. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," Economic Research Papers 269622, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    9. Michael D. Hurd & John B. Shoven, 1985. "Inflation Vulnerability, Income, and Wealth of the Elderly, 1969- 1979," NBER Chapters, in: Horizontal Equity, Uncertainty, and Economic Well-Being, pages 125-178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Susan E. Mayer & Christopher Jencks, 1989. "Poverty and the Distribution of Material Hardship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(1), pages 88-114.
    11. Karen Holden & Richard Burkhauser & Daniel Feaster, 1988. "The timing of falls into poverty after retirement and widowhood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 25(3), pages 405-414, August.
    12. Steven G. Prus & Ellen Gee, 2001. "Measuring Differences in the Effect of Social Resource Factors on the Health of Elderly Canadian Men and Women," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 58, McMaster University.
    13. N/A, 1981. "Research in Progress," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 34(2), pages 315-323, January.
    14. Kristine J. Ajrouch & Toni C. Antonucci & Mary R. Janevic, 2001. "Social Networks Among Blacks and Whites," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 56(2), pages 112-118.
    15. Hurd, Michael D, 1990. "Research on the Elderly: Economic Status, Retirement, and Consumption and Saving," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 565-637, June.
    16. N/A, 1981. "Research in Progress," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 35(1), pages 150-158, October.
    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. Steven J. Haider & Alison Jacknowitz & Robert F. Schoeni, 2003. "The Economic Status of Elderly Divorced Women," Working Papers wp046, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    2. Cullati, Stéphane, 2014. "The influence of work-family conflict trajectories on self-rated health trajectories in Switzerland: A life course approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 23-33.

    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. Michael D. Hurd, 1994. "The Economic Status of the Elderly in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Aging in the United States and Japan: Economic Trends, pages 63-84, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Michael D. Hurd & David A. Wise, 1996. "Changing Social Security Survivorship Benefits and the Poverty of Widows," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic Effects of Aging in the United States and Japan, pages 319-332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. repec:pri:cepsud:95votruba is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Maarten Lindeboom, 2012. "Health and Work of Older Workers," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Cai, Lixin, 2010. "The relationship between health and labour force participation: Evidence from a panel data simultaneous equation model," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 77-90, January.
    6. Richard Blundell & Hamish Low & Ian Preston, 2013. "Decomposing changes in income risk using consumption data," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 4(1), pages 1-37, March.
    7. Erik Meijer & Arie Kapteyn & Tatiana Andreyeva, 2008. "Health Indexes and Retirement Modeling in International Comparisons," Working Papers 614, RAND Corporation.
    8. Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2012. "Economic well-being and poverty among the elderly: An analysis based on a collective consumption model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 985-1000.
    9. Pedro Cavalcanti Ferreira & Marcelo Rodrigues dos Santos, 2013. "The Effect of Social Security, Health, Demography and Technology on Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(2), pages 350-370, April.
    10. Kapteyn, Arie & Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2005. "Explaining the wealth holdings of different cohorts: Productivity growth and Social Security," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1361-1391, July.
    11. Courtney C. Coile & Phillip B. Levine, 2007. "Labor Market Shocks and Retirement: Do Government Programs Matter?," NBER Chapters, in: Public Policy and Retirement, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 1902-1919, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Mete, Cem & Schultz, T. Paul, 2002. "Health and Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Taiwan," Center Discussion Papers 28470, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    13. Joan Gil Trasfí, 2016. "Is marriage protecting your health in recession times?," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2016/343, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Victor R. Fuchs, 2018. "“Provide, Provide”: The Economics of Aging," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Health Economics and Policy Selected Writings by Victor Fuchs, chapter 34, pages 425-443, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Alexandra Spicer & Olena Stavrunova & Susan Thorp, 2016. "How Portfolios Evolve after Retirement: Evidence from Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(297), pages 241-267, June.
    16. David R. Weir & Robert J. Willis & Purvi A. Sevak, 2002. "The Economic Consequences of Widowhood," Working Papers wp023, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    17. Nag M. & Anker, Richard, & Khan, M. E., 1982. "Guide to anthropological study of women's roles and demographic change in India (Operations Research group/ilo study in uttar pradesh)," ILO Working Papers 992173683402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Orazio Attanasio & Gabriella Berloffa & Richard Blundell & Ian Preston, 2002. "From Earnings Inequality to Consumption Inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages 52-59, March.
    19. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2007. "Health status and labour force status of older working-age Australian men," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 10(4), pages 227-252.
    20. Guner, Nezih & Kulikova, Yuliya & Llull, Joan, 2014. "Does Marriage Make You Healthier?," IZA Discussion Papers 8633, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Jennifer Roberts & Nigel Rice & Andrew M. Jones, 2008. "Early retirement and inequality in Britain and Germany: How important is health?," Working Papers 2008012, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2008.

    More about this item

    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:lev:wrkpap:wp_367. 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: Elizabeth Dunn (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.levyinstitute.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.