The authors present a generalized solution to Grossman's model of health capital (1972), relaxing the widely used assumption that individuals can adjust their health stock instantaneously to an "optimal" level without adjustment costs. The Grossman model then predicts the existence of a health...

Recall bias is a pervasive problem in the analysis of retrospective data (Shyrock et al., 1973; Ewbank, 1981). The problem is a recurrent concernin the litterature on the determinants of breastfeeding duration, its trend over time, and the effect of breastfeeding on infant mortality.

Using data from the New Haven EPESE, we examine the relationship between family structure and the risk of first nursing home admission.

Understanding of the substantial disparity in health between low and high socioeconomic status (SES) groups is hampered by the lack of a sufficiently comprehensive theoretical framework to interpret empirical facts and to predict yet untested relations. The authors present a life-cycle model...

The authors formulate a stylized structural model of health, wealth accumulation and retirement decisions building on the human capital framework of health provided by Grossman. They explicitly assume a functional form of the utility function and carefully account for initial conditions, which...

Zimbabwe has invested massively in public infrastructure since independence in 1980. The impact of these investments on demographic outcomes is examined using household survey data matched with two community level surveys.

This paper presents a theory of the demand for health, health investment and longevity, building on the human capital framework for health and addressing limitations of existing models. It predicts a negative correlation between health investment and health, that the health of wealthy and...

This paper is focused on two issues. Firstly, to what extent can we explain the observed mortality decline and secondly, can we attribute the observed chinese advantage to demographic or behavioural factors?

Using data form a nationally representative sample of more than 12,000births, this study assesses infant and child mortality differences in Cameroon by residence area, mother's education, ethnicity, marital status and union type, religion and inteplay of those factorson differentials mortality.

The authors use the increases in health insurance coverage at age 65 generated by the rules of the Medicare program to evaluate the effects of health insurance coverage on health related behaviors and outcomes. The rise in overall coverage at age 65 is accompanied by a narrowing of disparities...