Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP3091
Authors: Maarten Lindeboom; France Portrait; Gerard J. van den Berg
Abstract: Major events in the life of an elderly individual, such as retirement, a significant decrease in income, death of the spouse, disability, and a move to a nursing home, may affect the mental health status of the individual. For example, the individual may enter a prolonged depression. We investigate this using unique longitudinal panel data that track labour market behaviour, health status, and major life events, over time. To deal with endogenous aspects of these events we apply fixed effects estimation methods. We find some strikingly large effects of certain events on the occurrence of depression. We show that the results are of importance for the design of health care and labour market policy towards the elderly.
Keywords: care; death; depression; disease; endogeneity; fixed effects; health indicators; income loss; panel data; retirement; widowhood
JEL Codes: J14; J26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Major life events (J62) | Increased incidence of depression (I12) |
| Death of a spouse (J12) | Increased incidence of depression (I12) |
| Moving to a nursing home (J26) | Increased incidence of depression (I12) |
| Significant income loss (J17) | Increased incidence of depression (I12) |
| Widowhood (J12) | Higher rates of chronic depression (I12) |
| Onset of chronic diseases (I12) | Negative effects on emotional well-being (I31) |
| Physical limitations (D20) | Negative effects on emotional well-being (I31) |
| Life events (G14) | Deterioration of emotional health (I12) |
| Deterioration of emotional health (I12) | Deterioration of cognitive health (I12) |