Health Inequality Over the Life-Cycle

33 Pages Posted: 18 Aug 2009

See all articles by Timothy Halliday

Timothy Halliday

University of Hawaii - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of health inequality over the life-course. Health is modeled as a latent variable that is determined by three factors: endowments, and permanent and transitory shocks. We employ Simulated Minimum Distance and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to estimate the model. We estimate that permanent shocks account for under 10% of the total variation in health for the college educated, but between 35% and 70% of total health variability for people without college degrees. Consistent with this, we find that health inequality moves substantially more slowly over the life-course for the college educated.

Keywords: health, dynamic panel data models, variance decomposition

JEL Classification: I1, C5

Suggested Citation

Halliday, Timothy, Health Inequality Over the Life-Cycle. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4369, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1455531 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1455531

Timothy Halliday (Contact Author)

University of Hawaii - Department of Economics ( email )

Honolulu, HI 96822
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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