Divergence without decoupling

Andrew Noymer and Viola Van
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Andrew Noymer: University of California, Irvine
Viola Van: University of California, Irvine

Demographic Research, 2014, vol. 31, issue 51, 1503-1524

Abstract: Background: Divergence of male and female life expectancy is a well-documented phenomenon. Co-movement is a heretofore-neglected aspect of changes in male and female mortality. Objective: We develop a new framework for life expectancy sex differentials in time series, using co-movement/anti-movement and convergence/divergence. Methods: We apply this framework to the Human Mortality Database (HMD), assessing co-movement between male and female life expectancy with the nonparametric test of Goodman and Grunfeld (1961). Results: For every country in the HMD (except three with short spans of data), male and female mortality statistically co-move. This applies even in cases, including ones such as Russia that are well-discussed in the literature, that show extreme divergence between the sexes. The results are reasonably robust to subsetting with a 25-year time-window for all countries. Conclusions: Male and female life expectancy co-move even when the life expectancy sex differential increases. The sex divergence in life expectancy needs to be (re-)considered in light of the fact that male and female life expectancy usually co-move, reflecting overall societal factors.

Keywords: mortality; sex differences; life expectancy; international comparisons; Goodman-Grunfeld test (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:31:y:2014:i:51

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.31.51

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