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Long-run health trends in Europe

Author

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  • Börsch-Supan, Axel
  • Ferrari, Irene
  • Salerno, Luca

Abstract

Long-run health trends are worsening for middle-aged baby-boomers in the US. In contrast to this alarming development, Abeliansky and Strulik (2019, A&S), in one of the few studies of long-term health developments in Europe, find improving health trends in Europe across a broad range of cohorts. We conducted a cohort analysis of health deficits similar to A&S but focused on middle-aged individuals. We find that the positive health trend has all but stalled for the more recent birth cohorts in Europe. Our results are robust to a large range of different definitions of the health index. We argue that the difference between A&S and our results is due to longitudinal sample selectivity bias. Our findings have implications for future public and private costs of health care, and they are relevant for the ongoing discussion on how to achieve longer healthy working lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Börsch-Supan, Axel & Ferrari, Irene & Salerno, Luca, 2021. "Long-run health trends in Europe," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:18:y:2021:i:c:s2212828x20300682
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2020.100303
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Holger Strulik, 2014. "Optimal Aging And Death: Understanding The Preston Curve," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 672-701, June.
    2. Ana Lucia Abeliansky & Holger Strulik, 2018. "How We Fall Apart: Similarities of Human Aging in 10 European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 341-359, February.
    3. Abeliansky, Ana Lucia & Strulik, Holger, 2019. "Long-run improvements in human health: Steady but unequal," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    4. Hausman, Jerry A & Wise, David A, 1977. "Social Experimentation, Truncated Distributions, and Efficient Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(4), pages 919-938, May.
    5. Avendano, M. & Glymour, M.M. & Banks, J. & Mackenbach, J.P., 2009. "Health disadvantage in US adults aged 50 to 74 years: A comparison of the health of rich and poor Americans with that of Europeans," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(3), pages 540-548.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ana Lucia Abeliansky & Holger Strulik, 2023. "Health and aging before and after retirement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2825-2855, October.
    2. Old, Jonathan & Scott, Andrew, 2023. "Healthy ageing trends in England between 2002 to 2018: Improving but slowing and unequal," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health; Aging; Health deficit index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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