Heterogeneity, State Dependence and Health

Timothy J. Halliday

No 200716, Working Papers from University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper investigates the evolution of health over the life-cycle using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We allow for two sources of persistence: unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence. The former is modeled by discrete “types.” Estimation indicates that there are at least four types suggesting that there is a large degree of heterogeneity governing health dynamics. We find that the degree of state dependence is near unity for over half of the population. The implications of these findings are twofold. First, health inequalities in adulthood have antecedents in childhood. Second, policies that improve health care and its delivery may be an effective means of mitigating the gradient.

Keywords: Health; Dynamic Panel Data Models; Gradient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 C5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Date: 2007-07-11
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http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/WP_07-16R.pdf First version, 2007 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Heterogeneity, State Dependence and Health (2008)
Working Paper: Heterogeneity, State Dependence and Health (2005)
Journal Article: Heterogeneity, state dependence and health (2008)
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