In contrast to the believed similarity in their health outcomes, workers in different Western countries report very different rates of work disability. Using new data from the United States and the Netherlands, we offer a partial resolution to this paradox. We find that observed differences in reported work disability largely stem from the fact that Dutch respondents have a lower threshold in reporting whether they have a work disability than American respondents. For those who do not suffer from pain, work disability is similar in both countries once thresholds are the same. For respondents with pain, however, a significant difference remains. (JEL J14, J28)

We analyse risk preferences using an experiment with real incentives in a representative sample of 1,422 Dutch respondents. Our econometric model incorporates four structural parameters that vary with observed and unobserved characteristics: Utility curvature, loss aversion, preferences towards the timing of uncertainty resolution, and the propensity to choose randomly rather than on the basis of preferences. We find that all four parameters contribute to explaining choice behaviour. The structural parameters are significantly associated with socio-economic variables, but it is essential to incorporate unobserved heterogeneity in each of them to match the rich variety of choice patterns in the data. JEL: C90, D81

A dynamic panel data model of neonatal mortality and birth spacing is analyzed, accounting for causal effects of birth spacing on subsequent mortality and of mortality on the length of the next birth interval, while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in mortality (frailty) and birth spacing (fecundity). The model is estimated using micro data on almost 30,000 children of 7,300 Indian mothers, for whom a complete retrospective record of fertility and child mortality is available. Information on sterilization is used to identify an equation for completion of family formation that is needed to account for rightcensoring in the data. We find clear evidence of frailty, fecundity, and causal effects of birth spacing on mortality and vice versa, but find that birth interval effects can explain only a limited share of the correlation between neonatal mortality of successive children in a family. We also predict the impact of mortality on total fertility. Model simulations suggest that, for every neonatal death, an additional 0.37 children are born, of whom 0.3 survive.

Subjective expectations about future income changes are analyzed, using household panel data. The models used are extensions of existing binary choice panel data models to the case of ordered response. We consider both random and xed individual eects. The random eects model is estimated by maximum likelihood. The xed eects model is estimated by combining conditional xed eects logit estimates using minimum distance. We nd that income change expectations strongly depend on realized income changes in the past: those whose income fell, are more pessimistic than others, while those whose income rose are more optimistic. Expected income changes are also signicantly aected by employment status and family composition. Using the same type of models, subjective expectations are then confronted with the head of household's ex post perception of the realized income change for the same period. The main nding is that households whose income has decreased in the past underestimate their future income growth.We are grateful to

This paper analyzes the ownership dynamics of stocks and mutual funds, using representative household panel data, the Dutch CentER Savings Survey 1993-1998. A bivariate dynamic binary-choice model is introduced, allowing for interactions between the two types of assets. We find that unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence play a large role for both types of assets. The positive relation between ownership of one type in one period and the other type in the next period is explained by correlated unobserved heterogeneity. A negative state-dependence effect of lagged ownership of stocks on ownership of mutual funds is found, which can be explained by the costs of shifting funds across the two forms of stockholding. © 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.