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Health Inequality over the Life-Cycle

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  • Timothy J. Halliday

    (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa and University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization)

Abstract

We consider the covariance structure of health. Agents report their health status on the basis of a latent health stock that is determined by permanent and transitory shocks, and time invariant fixed effects. At age 25, permanent shocks account for 5% to 10% of the variation in health. At age 60, this percentage rise to between 60% and 80%. We document a gradient in which permanent shocks matter less for college-educated people and for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy J. Halliday, 2009. "Health Inequality over the Life-Cycle," Working Papers 2011-11R, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa, revised Jun 2011.
  • Handle: RePEc:hae:wpaper:2011-11r
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health inequality and the use of time for workers in Europe," MPRA Paper 65334, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. J. Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Molina, 2016. "Health inequality and the uses of time for workers in Europe: policy implications," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Changjian Pan & Qiuyan Fan & Jing Yang & Dasong Deng, 2019. "Health Inequality Among the Elderly in Rural China and Influencing Factors: Evidence from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Arjen Hussem & Casper Ewijk & Harry Rele & Albert Wong, 2016. "The Ability to Pay for Long-Term Care in the Netherlands: A Life-cycle Perspective," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 209-234, June.
    6. Halliday, Timothy & Mazumder, Bhashkar & Wong, Ashley, 2021. "Intergenerational mobility in self-reported health status in the US," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. White, Matthew N., 2023. "Self-reported health status and latent health dynamics," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health; dynamic panel data models; variance decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling

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