Rising mortality and life expectancy differentials by lifetime earnings in the United States

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Inter-American Development Bank, or to any individual acting on its behalf. This paper may be freely reproduced provided credit is given to the Research Department, InterAmerican Development Bank. Terms of use: Documents inThe Research Department (RES) produces a quarterly newsletter, IDEA (Ideas for Development in the Americas), as well as working papers and books on diverse economic issues. To obtain a complete list of RES publications, and read or download them please visit our web site at: http://www.iadb.org/res.3 Abstract * Are mortality and life expectancy differences by socioeconomic groups increasing in the United States? Using a unique data set matching high-quality administrative records with survey data, this study explores trends in these differentials by lifetime earnings for the 1983 to 2003 period. The results indicate a consistent increase in mortality differentials across sex and age groups. The study also finds a substantial increase in life expectancy differentials: the top-to-bottom quintile premium increased around 30 percent for men and almost doubled for women. These results complement recent research to point to almost five decades of increasing differential mortality in the United States.

Effects of Smoking and Smoking Cessation on Life Expectancy in an Elderly Population in Beijing, China, 1992–2000: An 8-Year Follow-up Study

“…Some risk factors, which themselves have effects on morbidity and mortality, could lead to overestimation of risk. 10 , 25 Roger et al 14 found that the adjusted odds ratios were reduced by 13%, 17%, and 29% for light smokers, moderate smokers, and heavy smokers, respectively, as compared with unadjusted estimates. Streppel et al 8 reported that the between-group difference in life expectancy classified by smoking status was reduced after controlling for potential confounders.…”

“…Moreover, although LE and active life expectancy (ALE) have been widely used to quantify the adverse effects of smoking, 1 , 8 , 9 these descriptive measurements can lead to biased estimates for older adults—for whom various mortality and morbidity risks are present—due to the absence of adjustment for confounding variables. 10 , 11 In addition, the beneficial effects of smoking cessation remain controversial. Some studies showed that mortality risk 10 to 15 years after smoking cessation was comparable to that in never smokers 12 ; however, some researchers have argued that, from a biological perspective, the extent of the benefit depends on the reversibility of the relevant disease processes at the time of cessation.…”

Education and Lifetime Earnings in the United States

“…The long-term earnings boost resulting from higher education constitutes a key mechanism linking education with retirement outcomes, such as Social Security benefit levels (Iams et al 2010), work-related pensions (Poterba et al 2007), retirement savings (Munnell and Sundén 2004; O’Rand et al 2009), and health and mortality outcomes (Cristia 2009). The observed positive association between graduate degree attainment and cumulative earnings in the 60s for men may be of particular importance.…”

Lifetime income and old age mortality risk in Italy over two decades

“…This study finds a widening gradient for Norway, whereas no significant time change in the SES-old age mortality gradient is found for Turin. 7,8 6 See Figure 1; panel "Men 65-75" in Christia (2009). The figure suggests a convex shape; however, it does not report standard errors.…”