The general aim of the Program Development Core is to support the development of new research initiatives by funding small-scale pilot projects. The first four projects, planned for the Center's first two years, are as follows, fin each case, promising results would lead to an R01 application.) * Estimating Structural Life-Cycle Models Using Register Data. Estimating structural LCMs requires long panels on wealth and income or consumption, which are rare. The purpose of this project is to assess whether combined administrative registers that Sweden makes available to researchers would be suitable for LCM estimation. Problems in the data will be identified, measures will be proposed for overcoming those problems, and a stylized LCM will be estimated. * Using Vignette Methods to Make International Comparison of Research Issues in Aging. Are differences in social insurance provisions between the United States and The Netherlands associated with different attitudes toward retirement and work disability? In this project, U.S. and Dutch respondents would be asked their attitudes toward a set of different retirement scenarios and disability plans that would include the current U.S. and Dutch paradigms. * Cross-Imputations Between the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Health and Retirement Study. A long panel on consumption and other economic variables would be useful in testing models of economic behavior. Elements of such data can be found in the CEX and the HRS, but neither is sufficient in itself. What might be gained from combining the two? This pilot aims to assess the imputation of consumption from the CEX into the HRS. * Causal Links Between Obesity and Health Among the Elderly. Does the association of obesity with unfavorable health outcomes among younger people also occur among the elderly? If so, does it reflect causality? In this project, researchers will use Medicare data to test for such a correlation and will then integrate longitudinal food price data by metropolitan area into the analysis in an attempt to test for causality. We will undertake seven or eight pilot projects in the Center's out-years. Proposals will be solicited, particularly from more junior researchers, and a steering committee will decide which to fund.
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