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Broken down by work and sex: how our health declines

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Author Info
Anne Case (Princeton University)
Angus Deaton (Princeton University)

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Abstract

Self-reported health status (SRHS) is an imperfect measure of non-fatal health, but allows examination of how health status varies over the life course. Although women have lower mortality than men, they report worse health status up to age 65. The SRHS of both men and women deteriorates with age. There are strong gradients, so that at age 20, men in the bottom quartile already report worse health than do men in the top quartile at age 50. In the bottom quartile of income, SRHS declines more rapidly with age, but only until retirement age. These facts motivate a study of the role of work, particularly manual work, in health decline with age. The Grossman capital-stock model of health assumes a technology in which money and time can effect complete health repair. As a result, declines in health status are driven, not by the rate of deterioration of the health stock, but by the rate of increase of the rate of deterioration. We argue that such a technology is implausible, and we show that people in manual occupations have worse SRHS and more rapidly declining SRHS, even with a comprehensive set of controls for income and education. We also find that much of the differences in SRHS across the income distribution is driven by health-related absence from the labor-force, which is a mechanism running from health to income, not the reverse.

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Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing. in its series Working Papers with number 257.

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Date of creation: Jun 2004
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Handle: RePEc:pri:cheawb:257

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  1. David Card & Carlos Dobkin & Nicole Maestas, 2004. "The Impact of Nearly Universal Insurance Coverage on Health Care Utilization and Health: Evidence from Medicare," NBER Working Papers 10365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Nicolai Kristensen, 2008. "Work environment satisfaction and employee health: panel evidence from Denmark, France and Spain, 1994–2001," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 51-61, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Olga Kiuila & Peter Mieszkowski, 2007. "The effects of income, education and age on health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(8), pages 781-798. [Downloadable!]
  4. Dana Goldman & Darius Lakdawalla, 2005. "A Theory of Health Disparities and Medical Technology," Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1395-1395. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Anne C. Case & Christina Paxson, 2004. "Sex Differences in Morbidity and Mortality," NBER Working Papers 10653, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. James P. Smith, 2005. "Unraveling the SES-Health Connection," Labor and Demography 0505018, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Timothy Halliday, 2006. "The Impact of Aggregate and Idiosyncratic Income Shocks on Health Outcomes: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 200606, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Thierry Debrand & Pascale Lengagne, 2007. "Organisation du travail et sante des seniors en Europe," Working Papers DT3, IRDES institut for research and information in health economics, revised Feb 2007. [Downloadable!]
  9. Márcia Regina Godoy & Giácomo Balbinotto Neto & Eduardo Pontual Ribeiro, 2006. "Estimando As Perdas De Rendimento Devido À Doença Renal Crônica No Brasil," Anais do XXXIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 34th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 38, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
  10. Eugene Choo & Michael Denny, 2006. "Wearing Out -- The Decline in Health," Working Papers tecipa-258, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Antonio J. Trujillo & John A. Vernon & Laura Rodriguez Wong & Gustavo Angeles, 2005. "Race and Health Disparities Among Seniors in Urban Areas in Brazil," NBER Working Papers 11690, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Timothy Halliday, 2006. "Income Risk and Health," Working Papers 200612, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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