Health Inequality and Health Types

Margherita Borella, Francisco A. Bullano, Mariacristina De Nardi, Benjamin Krueger and Elena Manresa

No 32799, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: While health affects many economic outcomes, its dynamics are still poorly understood. We use k means clustering, a machine learning technique, and data from the Health and Retirement Study to identify health types during middle and old age. We identify five health types: the vigorous resilient, the fair-health resilient, the fair-health vulnerable, the frail resilient, and the frail vulnerable. They are characterized by different starting health and health and mortality trajectories. Our five health types account for 84% of the variation in health trajectories and are not explained by observable characteristics, such as age, marital status, education, gender, race, health-related behaviors, and health insurance status, but rather, by one’s past health dynamics. We also show that health types are important drivers of health and mortality heterogeneity and dynamics. Our results underscore the importance of better understanding health type formation and of modeling it appropriately to properly evaluate the effects of health on people’s decisions and the implications of policy reforms.

JEL-codes: I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-big, nep-cmp and nep-hea
Note: AG PE
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w32799.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Health Inequality and Health Types (2024)
Working Paper: Health Inequality and Health Types (2024)
Working Paper: Health inequality and health types (2024)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32799

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w32799
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().