Investigators of social differentials in health outcomes commonly augment incomplete micro data by appending socioeconomic characteristics of residential areas (such as median income in a zip code) to proxy for individual characteristics. However, little empirical attention has been paid to how...

In this paper, we specify a dynamic programming model that addresses the interplay among health, financial resources, and the labor market behavior of men in the later part of their working lives. Unlike previous work which has typically used self reported health or disability status as a proxy...

This paper addresses the interplay between health and labor market behavior in the later part of the working life. We use the longitudinal Health and Retirement Survey to analyze the dynamic relationship between health and alternative labor force transitions, including labor force exit, job...

We use the first wave of the Health and Retirement Survey to study the effect of health on the labor force activity of Black and White men and women in their 50s. The evidence we present confirms the notion that health is an extremely important determinant of early labor force exit. Our...

Data from the National Health Interview Survey and elsewhere showed a trend toward worsening self-reported health among American men and women in middle age and older during the 1970s. This evidence - combined with the significant declines in age-specific mortality observed since the 1960s - led...

Labor supply estimates are sensitive to the measures of health used. When self reported measures are used health seems to playa larger role and economic factors a smaller one than when more objective measures are used" While most authors have interpreted these results as an indication of the...

Applicants for Social Security Disability Benefits who fail to pass the medical screening form a natural 'control' group for beneficiaries. Data drawn from the 1972 and 1978 surveys of the disabled done for the Social Security Administration show that fewer than 50% of rejected male applicants...