Superstition is a widespread phenomenon. We empirically examine its impact on health-related behavior and health outcomes. We study the case of the Taiwanese Ghost month. During this period, which is believed to increase the likelihood of bad outcomes, we observe substantial adaptions in...

The anticipation of bad future events reduces currently experienced happiness and it may through this channel elicit detrimental behavioral responses. We explore this idea in the context of endogenous health and aging. We integrate physiological aging into a life-cycle model, calibrate it with...

We investigate universalization of access to health in Brazil. We find large reductions in maternal, foetal, neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, a reduction in fertility and, possibly on account of selection, no change in the quality of births. Using rich administrative data, we investigate...

We set up a lifecycle model of a retired scholar who chooses optimally the time devoted to different activities including physical activity, continued work and social engagement. While time spent in physical activity increases life expectancy, continued scientific publications increases the...

We present results on the mortality statistics of the COVID-19 epidemic in a number of countries. Our data analysis suggests classifying countries in five groups, 1) Western countries, 2) East Block , 3) developed South East Asian countries, 4) Northern Hemisphere developing countries and 5)...

We estimate the effect of additional pension income on mortality outcomes by exploring the eli- gibility criteria of a German program subsidizing the pensions of low-wage workers. Using novel administrative data, we find that eligibility leads to a 2-month delay in age at death (censored at 75)....

We study the dynamics of longevity risk across a subset of countries in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. We use hand-collected and existing data on mortality rates from emerging and developed economies, to understand how secular changes in mortality vary within and across APAC countries. We use...

Once a humble, beloved, charity-based arm of the healthcare industry, hospice is now a multi-billion dollar industry, funded almost exclusively by Medicare, run by for-profit corporations answering to private equity investors and Wall Street, and more and more frequently plagued by fraud and...

We construct a health measurement model which combines panel data on self-reported health with a rich set of health measures from administrative medical records. Our estimated health model allows us to predict health status for the population at large. We account both for unobserved...