Health and Work of the Elderly: Subjective Health Measures, Reporting Errors and the Endogenous Relationship Between Health and Work

In empirical studies of retirement decisions of the elderly, health is often found to have a large, if not dominant, effect. Depending on which health measures are used, these estimated effects may be biased estimates of the causal effect of health on the dependent variable(s).Research indicates that subjective, self-assessed health measures may be affected by endogenous reporting behaviour and even if an objective health measure is used, it is not likely to be strictly exogenous to labour market status or labour income. Health and labour market variables will be correlated because of unobserved individual-specific characteristics (e.g., investments in human capital and health capital). Moreover, one's labour market status may be expected to have a (reverse) causal effect on current and future health. In this paper we analyse the relative importance of these endogeneity and measurement issues in the context of a model of early retirement decisions. We state assumptions under which we can use relatively simple methods to assess the relative importance of state dependent reporting errors in individual responses to health questions. The estimation results indicate that among respondents receiving disability insurance allowance, reporting errors are large and systematic and that therefore using these measures in retirement models may seriously bias the parameter estimates and the conclusions drawn from these. We furthermore found that health deteriorates with work and that the two variables are endogenously related.

Does Retirement Kill You? Evidence from Early Retirement Windows

The magnitude of the effect that health has on the retirement decision has long been studied. We examine the reverse relationship, whether or not retirement has a direct impact on later-life health. In order to identify the causal relationship, we use unexpected early retirement window offers to instrument for retirement behavior. They are legally required to be unrelated to the baseline health of the individual, and are significant predictors of retirement. We find that there is no negative effect of early retirement on men's health, and if anything, a temporary increase in self-reported health and improvements in health of highly educated workers. While this is consistent with previous literature using Social Security ages as instruments, we also find some evidence that anticipation of retirement might also be important, and might bias the previous estimates towards zero.health, retirement, instrument, causal effect

Dreams: The Effects of Changing the Pension System Late in the Game

This paper assesses the impact of a dramatic reform of the Dutch pension system on mental health, savings behavior and retirement expectations of workers nearing retirement age. The reform means that public sector workers born on January 1, 1950 or later face a substantial reduction in their pension rights while workers born before this threshold date may still retire under the old, more generous rules. We employ a unique matched survey and administrative data set comprising male public sector workers born in 1949 and 1950 and find strong ex ante effects on mental health for workers who are affected by the reform. This effect increases as birth dates approach the threshold date. Furthermore, the effects differ in accordance with worker characteristics. Finally, we find that the response of those affected by the reform is to work longer and to save more.labour economics ;

The effect of work on mental health: Does occupation Matter?

mental health panel data model labour market status occupation

Shattered Dreams: The Effects of Changing the Pension System Late in the Game

This paper assesses the impact of a dramatic reform of the Dutch pension system on mental health, savings behavior and retirement expectations of workers nearing retirement age. The reform means that public sector workers born on January 1, 1950 or later face a substantial reduction in their pension rights while workers born before this threshold date may still retire under the old, more generous rules. We employ a unique matched survey and administrative data set comprising male public sector workers born in 1949 and 1950 and find strong ex ante effects on mental health for workers who are affected by the reform. This effect increases as birth dates approach the threshold date. Furthermore, the effects differ in accordance with worker characteristics. Finally, we find that the response of those affected by the reform is to work longer and to save more.mental health, retirement, pension reform, causal effect

Shattered Dreams: The Effects of Changing the Pension System Late in the Game

This paper assesses the impact of a dramatic reform of the Dutch pension system on mental health, savings behavior and retirement expectations of workers nearing retirement age. The reform means that public sector workers born on January 1, 1950 or later face a substantial reduction in their pension rights while workers born before this threshold date may still retire under the old, more generous rules. We employ a unique matched survey and administrative data set comprising male public sector workers born in 1949 and 1950 and find strong ex ante effects on mental health for workers who are affected by the reform. This effect increases as birth dates approach the threshold date. Furthermore, the effects differ in accordance with worker characteristics. Finally, we find that the response of those affected by the reform is to work longer and to save more.1.education, training and the labour market;

Health and Work of the Elderly

This paper aims to exp1ore the interre1ation between hea1th and work decisions of e1der1y workers, taking the various ways in which hea1th and work can influence each other exp1icitly into account. For this, two issues are of re1evance. Se1f-assessed health measures are usually at hand in empiricalanalyses and research indicates that these may be affected by endogenous, state dependent, reporting behaviour. Furthermore, even if an objective health measure is used, it is not likely to be strictly exogenous to labour market status or labour income. Health and labour market variables are correlatedbecause of unobserved individual-specific characteristics (e.g., investments in human capital and health capital). Moreover, one's labour rnarket status is expected to have a (reverse) causal effect on health. A solution to the 'Health and Retirement Nexus' requires an integrated model for work decisions, health production and health reporting mechanisms. We formulate such a model andestirnate it on a longitudinal dataset of Dutch elderly

A Dynamic Analysis of the Demand for Health Insurance and Health Care

We investigate the presence of moral hazard and advantageous or adverse selection in a market for supplementary health insurance. For this we specify and estimate dynamic models for health insurance decisions and health care utilization. Estimates of the health care utilization models indicate that moral hazard is not important. Furthermore, we find strong evidence for advantageous selection, largely driven by heterogeneity in education, income and health preferences. Finally, we show that ignoring dynamics and unobserved fixed effects changes the results dramatically.advantageous selection, health care utilization, supplementary private health insurance, moral hazard, panel data

Obesity and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the British NCDS

We study the effect of obesity on wages and employment, using data from the British NCDS. The results show a significant negative association between obesity and labor market outcomes even after controlling for a rich set of demographic, socioeconomic, environmental and behavioral variables. After instrumenting with parental obesity the associations are no longer significant. We show that the intergenerational correlation in obesity is mainly due to genetic variation. However, the instruments do not always pass the overidentification tests and are sometimes weak. We are therefore somewhat sceptical about using parental obesity as an instrument.obesity, wages, employment, labor, endogeneity

Inequality in individual mortality and economic conditions earlier in life

We analyze the effect of being born in a recession on the mortality rate later in life in conjunction with social class. We use individual data records from Dutch registers of birth, marriage, and death certificates, covering the period 1815-2000, and we merge these with historical data on macro-economic outcomes and health indicators. We estimate duration models and inequality measures. The results indicate that being born in a recession increases the mortality rate later in life for most of the population. Lower social classes suffer disproportionally from being born in recessions. This exacerbates mortality inequality. This is not affected by social mobility: upward mobility does not vary much with the business cycle at birth, for each social class.Death; longevity; recession; life expectancy; lifetimes; social inequality; social class; health