6533b85dfe1ef96bd12be753

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The unobserved pattern of material hardship and health among older Americans

Paolo Li Donni

subject

MaleMultivariate statisticsHealth StatusSelf-assessed healthMarkov modelFood Supply03 medical and health sciencesLatent Markov model0502 economics and businessEconomicsHumansState dependence050207 economicsPovertyhealth care economics and organizationsAgedMaterial hardshipModels Statistical030503 health policy & servicesHealth Policy05 social sciencesPublic Health Environmental and Occupational HealthHealth and Retirement StudyMarkov ChainsUnited StatesFood insecuritySocioeconomic FactorsSettore SECS-P/03 - Scienza Delle FinanzeFemaleDemographic economics0305 other medical sciencehuman activitiesTrajectoriePanel data

description

This paper investigates the relationship between self-reported health and material hardship among older Americans. Differently from income-based measures, material hardship provides a more specific description of the concrete adversities faced by the elderly. We have used the last six waves of the Health and Retirement Study to explore the relative contributions of state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity and time-specific shocks on reporting poor health, experiencing food insecurity and medication cutbacks. We have used a Latent Markov model to estimate a multivariate non-linear system of equations for panel data allowing time-varying unobserved heterogeneity. Our results reveal a high state dependence of both health and material hardship conditions. Estimated trajectories reveal that pathways of material hardship are associated differently with health. Material hardship is also spread across its dimensions.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2019-05-01Journal of Health Economics
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.02.004