Universität zu Köln

Schön, Matthias Johannes (2015). Life Cycle Economics, Health, and Inequality. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

This thesis consists of three self-contained chapters. Although the first two chapters study different questions and contribute to distinct branches of the literature, they are related with respect to the research question. Both chapters contribute to the field of health economics, reflecting my research interest in a better understanding of the interdependence between the economic situation of individuals and their health. This interest is motivated by the well-documented correlation between health and income. Exemplifying this correlation, the average additional life expectancy at age 55 across earnings deciles. The richest 10% have a 10 years longer life expectancy than the poorest 10%. However, correlations without an understanding of causation are no sufficient guide for policy. Building on this insight, Chapter 1 and 2 investigate potential mechanisms to identify the link between health and the economic sphere. Chapter 1 studies recuperation time and shows that fear of unemployment drives a wedge between the long-run health of rich and poor workers. Chapter 2 investigates whether stress caused by a low economic performance compared to a self-determined circle of acquaintances may pose a threat to health. Chapter 3 deviates from the first two chapters in its nature as it contributes to the literature of computational economics. More precisely, it develops a method which deals with the computational challenges of heterogeneous agent models that require a higher dimensional state space. The method can be applied to large-scale overlapping generations as well as other models with heterogeneous agents and could be applied in Chapter 2.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schön, Matthias Johannes m.schoen@wiso.uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-64860
Date:	2015
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Ehemalige Fakultäten, Institute, Seminare > Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences > no entry
Subjects:	Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Sick Leave Unemployment Health English
Date of oral exam:	9 December 2015
Referee:	Name Academic Title Ludwig, Alexander Prof. Dr. Krause, Michael Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/6486