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I conduct an empirical analysis of the relation between retirement and outpatient care use in Europe and the US, and investigate the potential driving factors of that. I link the empirical analysis to a theoretical model of medical care demand. I document that pensioners tend to visit a doctor with higher probability and more often than the rest of the 50+ population. Ceteris paribus, being retired implies 3–10 % more outpatient visits in Europe. The estimates are of similar magnitude in the US. The paper contributes to the understanding of how population ageing plays a part in the rising health care expenditures. I find evidence that retirement related individual characteristics, increasing leisure time and stronger health preferences all contribute to the positive relation between retirement and outpatient care use, which is mainly driven by the healthier individuals. The gatekeeper role of general practitioners can mitigate the increased demand for outpatient care services after retirement.

Using data from the COVID-19 questionnaire of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we investigate the time patterns of precautionary health behaviours of individuals aged 50 years and above during the summer of 2020, an easing phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. We also examine how these health behaviours differ by the presence of chronic conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol level, heart disease, diabetes or chronic bronchitis, which can be considered as risk factors for COVID-19. Our results suggest that while on average, people became less precautious during the analysed time period, this is less so for those who are at higher risk. We also document large regional differences in precautionary health behaviours and show that higher-risk individuals are on average more cautious in all regions. We conclude that people adjusted their health behaviours in line with the generally understood risk of the COVID-19 disease. At the same time, our results also point out divergences in the level of willingness to take different precautionary steps.

We analyze the timing, magnitude, and income dependence of pharmaceutical panic buying around the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Hungary. We use district‐level monthly and daily administrative data on detailed categories of pharmaceutical purchases, merge them to income statistics, and estimate multilevel panel models. Our main results are as follows. First, the days of therapy (DOT) of pharmaceutical purchases increased by more than 30% in March 2020, when major lockdown measures were announced. This pattern holds for almost all categories of pharmaceuticals. Second, shortly after the panic reactions, the aggregate amount of pharmaceutical purchases returned to their preshock levels; however, the frequency of pharmacy visits decreased. Third, the panic buying reaction was significantly stronger in richer geographical areas, where—according to the daily data—people also reacted earlier to the pandemic‐related news. Overall, the results suggest that panic buying of pharmaceuticals can have detrimental effects on vulnerable populations.

I investigate the relationship between widowhood and the financial situation among women aged 50 and above in Europe. The results of the paper are based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, and its retrospective third wave (SHARELIFE). Using retrospective data makes it possible to analyze the dynamics of the adverse effects of widowhood. I estimate both the short run and long run effects of widowhood on financial circumstances, health, and labor force status. I argue that not only the lack of the deceased husband's income, but also the worse health condition and earlier retirement of widows contribute to the unfavorable financial conditions, although these indirect effects are small. I also analyze the role survivors' pensions have in mitigating the adverse effects of widowhood, and provide evidence for varying compensating effects of survivors' pensions in the European countries analyzed.