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Home safety, accessibility, and elderly health: Evidence from falls

Author

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  • Eriksen, Michael D.
  • Greenhalgh-Stanley, Nadia
  • Engelhardt, Gary V.

Abstract

This article presents estimates of the impact of home safety and accessibility features on the prevention of serious, non-fatal falls for elderly widowed individuals. As these features are not randomly assigned across homes, we develop an instrumental variable (IV) strategy that relies on the differential decline in the health and functional status of spouses to identify impacts. Specifically, we use the deceased spouse’s functional status when alive, as measured by limits to Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), as an IV for the presence of home safety and accessibility features for the surviving spouse in the years after widowhood, and then estimate the effect of these features on the likelihood of a serious fall for the widow using rich longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study. The presence of such features reduces the likelihood of a fall requiring medical treatment by 20 percentage points, a substantial effect. However, falls are not the type of health shock that is a main driver of housing tenure transitions among the elderly. Although somewhat speculative, cost–benefit estimates suggest that investments in home safety for the elderly may generate in the short run as much as a dollar-for-dollar reduction in medical expenditures.

Suggested Citation

  • Eriksen, Michael D. & Greenhalgh-Stanley, Nadia & Engelhardt, Gary V., 2015. "Home safety, accessibility, and elderly health: Evidence from falls," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 14-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:87:y:2015:i:c:p:14-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2015.02.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kristin F. Butcher & Kelsey Moran & Tara Watson, 2022. "Immigrant labor and the institutionalization of the U.S.‐born elderly," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1375-1413, November.
    3. Monika Błaszczyszyn & Mariusz Konieczny & Paweł Pakosz, 2019. "Analysis of Ankle sEMG on Both Stable and Unstable Surfaces for Elderly and Young Women—A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Adriana Luciano & Federica Pascale & Francesco Polverino & Alison Pooley, 2020. "Measuring Age-Friendly Housing: A Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-35, January.
    5. I-Ming Feng & Jun-Hong Chen & Bo-Wei Zhu & Lei Xiong, 2018. "Assessment of and Improvement Strategies for the Housing of Healthy Elderly: Improving Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-32, March.
    6. Chan, Sewin & Haughwout, Andrew & Tracy, Joseph, 2015. "How Mortgage Finance Affects the Urban Landscape," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 987-1045, Elsevier.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing; Health; Elderly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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