Aging: damage accumulation versus increasing mortality rate

Maxim S. Finkelstein
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Maxim S. Finkelstein: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2005-018, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: If aging is understood as some process of damage accumulation, it does not necessarily lead to increasing mortality rates. Within the framework of a suggested generalization of the Strehler-Mildwan (1960) model, we show that even for models with monotonically increasing degradation, the mortality rate can still decrease. The de-cline in vitality and functions, as manifestation of aging, is modeled by the monotonically decreasing quality of life function. Using this function, the initial lifetime ran-dom variable with ultimately decreasing mortality rate is ‘weighted’ to result in a new random variable which is already characterized by the increasing rate.

JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2005-018

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2005-018

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