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Revisiting the Role of Gender in Health Taxonomy: Evidence from the Elderly in India

Author

Listed:
  • Dona Ghosh

    (Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India)

  • Jaydeep Sengupta

    (Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purula, West Bengal, India)

  • Aviral Kumar Tiwari

    (Rajagiri Business School, Kochi, Kerala, India)

Abstract

Considering the unprecedented population aging problem and health-related difficulties in India, the study attempts to explore the health-related discrepancies among male and female elderly, with the help of a composite health indicator. The composite health indicator is formulated using the underlying characteristics of different health dimensions and expressed by a single health index as the representative of the overall health status of the elderly. Findings suggest that individual characteristics like, education and marital status have the greater exploratory power of gender health difference than the household characteristics. Socioeconomic variables like education levels, social groups, religious groups and geographic region influence almost similarly in constructing overall health of elderly across gender, however, almost after a decade the health difficulties has accelerated among the higher income classes both for men and women elderly.

Suggested Citation

  • Dona Ghosh & Jaydeep Sengupta & Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2020. "Revisiting the Role of Gender in Health Taxonomy: Evidence from the Elderly in India," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(2), pages 104-133, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aag:wpaper:v:24:y:2020:i:2:p:104-133
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aging; gender; health index; health inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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