ECONOMICS OF HEALTH, WEALTH, AND WELL-BEING The goal of this program project is to better understand people's well-being as they age, and how well-being can be improved by policy. The integrating themes are: (A) Understanding Well-Being: Subproject 1, Characterizing Disability and Its Trends among Older Americans, explores the multiple aspects of health and functional ability, how they are changing, and the factors that have been most important in improving health. Subproject 2 explores Dimensions of Subjective Well-Being, comparing life-evaluation and experiential measures, and how they are influenced by economic circumstances (both absolute and relative), health, age, gender, religiosity, education, and culture. (B) Interactions between Health and Economic Aspects of Well-Being: Subproject 3, The Joint Evolution of Health and Assets in Later Life, analyzes what happens to people's accumulated assets in later life, and how the evolution of people's financial resources relates to the evolution of their health. Subproject 4, Exploring the Dynamics of Health and Wealth Using Linked Administrative Data, develops and estimates new models of the health-wealth dynamic, drawing on detailed medical treatment and cost data. (C) Approaches to Improving Well-Being: Subproject 5, Behavioral Change in the Saving and Health Domains, uses behavioral experiments to learn why framing and context so profoundly influence people's decisions about saving, annuitization, or taking care of their health. Subproject 6 tests the effectiveness of an Intervention to Fight Anemia and Improve Well-Being in a Very Low Income Setting. Subproject 7 analyzes interactions between Disability Programs, Health Status, and Work at Older Ages around the World, comparing disability policies and their impact in a dozen countries. Subproject 8 explores ways of Improving Health and Health Care for Minority and Aging Populations.
Over the next twenty years, the older population will grow faster than at any time in history, reshaping the social and economic environment in which people age. Attention to health, economic circumstances, and other measures of well-being will be particularly important in the context of these transitional challenges.
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