The paper presents an approach which thoroughly assesses the role of early life and contemporaneous macro-conditions in explaining health at older ages. In particular, we investigate the role of exposure to infectious diseases and economic conditions during infancy and childhood, as well as the...

This paper examines the association between lifetime income and old age mortality risk, referred to as the income-mortality gradient, in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s. We extend the literature by estimating the income-mortality gradient using Cox proportional hazard models, where the...

This paper examines the association between lifetime income and old age mortality risk, referred to as the income–mortality gradient, in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s. We find that the shape of the income–mortality gradient is characterized by two discontinuities (knots) for males and one...