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Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?

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  • Neil J. Buckley
  • Frank T. Denton
  • A. Leslie Robb
  • Byron G. Spencer

Abstract

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who were in good health in the first year, focussing especially on income and education. The initial good health restriction removes from the sample those whose incomes may have been affected by a previous history of poor health, thus avoiding a well known problem of econometric endogeneity. We then ask, for those in good health, whether later transitions in health status are related to socioeconomic status. We find that they are that changes in health status over the subsequent two years are related in particular to income and education.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil J. Buckley & Frank T. Denton & A. Leslie Robb & Byron G. Spencer, 2004. "Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 392, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:qseprr:392
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    File URL: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/qsep/p/qsep392.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Buckley, Neil J. & Denton, Frank T. & Leslie Robb, A. & Spencer, Byron G., 2004. "The transition from good to poor health: an econometric study of the older population," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 1013-1034, September.
    2. Peter Adams & Michael D. Hurd & Daniel L. McFadden & Angela Merrill & Tiago Ribeiro, 2004. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? Tests for Direct Causal Paths between Health and Socioeconomic Status," NBER Chapters, in: Perspectives on the Economics of Aging, pages 415-526, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Poterba, James M., 2003. "Some observations on health status and economic status," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 65-67, January.
    4. James P. Smith, 1999. "Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation between Health and Economic Status," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 145-166, Spring.
    5. Adda, Jerome & Chandola, Tarani & Marmot, Michael, 2003. "Socio-economic status and health: causality and pathways," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 57-63, January.
    6. Robert Evans, 2002. "Interpreting and Addressing Inequalities in Health: From Black to Acheson to Blair to . . . ?," Monograph 000477, Office of Health Economics.
    7. Denton, Margaret & Walters, Vivienne, 1999. "Gender differences in structural and behavioral determinants of health: an analysis of the social production of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1221-1235, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Isik U. Zeytinoglu & Margaret Denton, 2006. "Satisfied Workers, Retained Workers: Effects of Work and Work Environment on Homecare Workers' Job Satisfaction, Stress, Physical Health, and Retention," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 166, McMaster University.
    2. Stephen Birch & George Kephart & Gail Tomblin-Murphy & Linda O'Brien-Pallas & Rob Alder & Adrian MacKenzie, 2007. "Health human resources planning and the production of health: Development of an extended analytical framework for needs-based health human resources planning," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 168, McMaster University.
    3. Neil J. Buckley & Frank T. Denton & A. Leslie Robb & Byron G. Spencer, 2006. "Socio-economic Influences on the Health of Older Canadians: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 32(1), pages 59-84, March.
    4. Asakawa, Keiko & Senthilselvan, Ambikaipakan & Feeny, David & Johnson, Jeffrey & Rolfson, Darryl, 2012. "Trajectories of health-related quality of life differ by age among adults: Results from an eight-year longitudinal study," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 207-218.
    5. Hana Bataineh & Rose Anne Devlin & Vicky Barham, 2019. "Unmet health care and health care utilization," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 529-542, April.
    6. Daniel Béland, 2006. "What Ownership Society: Debating Housing and Social Security Reform in the United States," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 150, McMaster University.
    7. Margaret Denton & Linda Boos, 2007. "Gender Inequality in the Wealth of Older Canadians," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 169, McMaster University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    aging; health; income; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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