integrates health in the utility function and utilizes recent estimates on the effects of health on the marginal utility of …

We construct a unified objective measure of health status: the frailty index, defined as the cumulative sum of all … adverse health indicators observed for an individual. First, we show that the frailty index has several advantages over self …-reported health status, particularly when studying health dynamics. Then we estimate a stochastic process for frailty dynamics over …

Using a dynamic panel approach, we provide empirical evidence that negative health shocks reduce earnings. The effect … health. We build a dynamic, general equilibrium, life cycle model that is consistent with these findings. In the model …, individuals whose health is risky and heterogeneous choose to either work, or not work and apply for social security disability …