International Comparison of Well-Being, Health and Retirement

Rand Corporation, Santa Monica CA

Investigators

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The United States and most of the developed world is experiencing its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Households have been affected in a number of ways. Large declines in house values combined with the assumption of risky mortgages and equity extraction have led to negative housing equity for a significant fraction of home owners and foreclosures for some. Although there has been some recovery, declines in stock values have reduced the savings of many households, especially affecting retirement savings. Record rates of job loss have jeopardized the economic foundations of a large fraction of workers and their families. One major objective of this proposed project will be to quantify the effects of the Great Recession on the economic status of U.S. households and any adjustments in behavior households made in response. To paint as complete a picture as possible these analyses will employ multiple longitudinal data sources (Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and the American Life Panel (ALP)) that vary in the covered age range, sample size, the frequency and timing of interviews as well as the richness of available information. Particularly noteworthy are the ALP data where we will have 56 waves of high-frequency panel data collected throughout the crisis (and its potential recovery). We will study a variety of response behaviors, including consumption and saving, retirement and bequests. We will study the role of expectations for households'behavioral responses to the crisis by estimating changes in subjective uncertainty and optimism about the financial situation of households and relating those to individuals'economic choices. We will study the health effects of the crisis using a rich set of available health measures, including biomarkers. We will contrast the U.S. experience of the crisis with the experiences by other developed countries in Europe. Taking advantage of the additional cross-country variation related to the timing and severity of the crisis, we will replicate the HRS analyses for fifteen European countries on data that were designed to be directly comparable to the HRS. Beyond the additional sources of variation, these analyses will allow us to exploit more detailed health measures and additional biomarkers available in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA) to further extend the analyses of the effects of economic crisis and corresponding stresses on health than would be possible on HRS data. PUBIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The financial crisis has threatened the economic position of the older population. Because of a strong relationship between economic status and health, the crisis has also likely affected their health. This project will quantify these effects, including the responses by households to their reduced economic circumstances. The project will also investigate the role of expectations and uncertainty in how changes in economic status translate into changes in health, with attention to potential reverse causality.