Conjugal Bereavement Effects on Health and Mortality at Advanced Ages

Gerard van den Berg, Maarten Lindeboom () and France Portrait ()
Additional contact information
France Portrait: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

No 07-009/3, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: This discussion paper led to a publication in the Journal of Health Economics (2011). Vol. 30(4), pages 774-794.

We specify a model for the lifetimes of spouses and the dynamic evolution of health, allowing spousal death to have causal effects on the health and mortality of the survivor. We estimate the model using a longitudinal survey that traces many health status aspects over time, and that is linked to register data on the vital status of the individuals. The model takes account of selectivity in partners' mortality and health evolution. We find strong instantaneous effects of bereavement on mortality and on certain aspects of health. Individuals lose on average 12% of residual life expectancy after bereavement. Bereavement affects the share of healthy years in residual lifetime, primarily because healthy years are replaced by years with chronic diseases.

Keywords: death; longevity; health care; disease; life expectancy; elderly couples; impairment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C41 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-01-17
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://papers.tinbergen.nl/07009.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Conjugal bereavement effects on health and mortality at advanced ages (2011)
Working Paper: Conjugal Bereavement Effects on Health and Mortality at Advanced Ages (2006)
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:tin:wpaper:20070009

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 ().