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Causal effect of income on health: Investigating two closely related policy reforms in Austria

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  • Schnalzenberger, Mario

Abstract

I investigate the effect of income on mortality of the pensioners, comparing three subsequent policy periods in Austria in the early 2000s. The pensioners who retired in the second period received 25% lower pension than those in the first period. This reduction in income was removed in the third policy period. These two reforms allow a causal identification of the effect of income on health. I estimate that lower pension income did not change the mortality rate. The results are confirmed using both experiments and different methods of estimation. Furthermore, with regard to the expenditure on health services, I find that only prescribed drug consumption increased, with the remaining analyzed factors being unaffected.

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  • Schnalzenberger, Mario, 2016. "Causal effect of income on health: Investigating two closely related policy reforms in Austria," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 6-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:7:y:2016:i:c:p:6-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2016.03.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Christine Mayrhuber & Lukas Tockner, 2012. "Biographien der Inanspruchnahme von Gesundheitsdienstleistungen vor dem Antritt von Invaliditäts- und Berufsunfähigkeitspensionen," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 85(3), pages 209-217, March.
    2. Alexander Ahammer & G. Thomas Horvath & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2017. "The effect of income on mortality—new evidence for the absence of a causal link," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(3), pages 793-816, June.
    3. Rivero Catalina & Acuna Pedro, 2021. "Income Shocks and Child Mortality Rates: Evidence from Fluctuations in Oil Prices," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 69-83, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income; Mortality; Health; Expenditure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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