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Cited by 75Retirement, Disability, and EmploymentHealth disparities and outcomesFinancial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis

The Impact of Income on Mortality: Evidence from the Social Security Notch

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Snyder, Stephen, Evans, William·2002·National Bureau of Economic Research
DOI 10.3386/w9197
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Abstract

There is widespread and longstanding agreement that life expectancy and income are positively correlated.However, it has proven much more difficult to establish a causal relationship since income and health are jointly determined.We use a major change in the Social Security law as exogenous variation in income to examine the impact of income on mortality in an elderly population.The legislation created a "notch" in Social Security benefits based upon date of birth; those born before January 1, 1917 generally receive higher benefits than those born afterwards.We compare mortality rates after age 65 for males born in the second half of 1916 and the first half of 1917.Data from restricted-use versions of the National Mortality Detail File combined with Census data allows us to count all deaths among elderly Americans between 1979 and 1993.We find that the higher income group has a statistically significantly higher mortality rate, contradicting the previous literature.We also find that the younger cohort responded to lower incomes by increasing post-retirement work effort.These results suggest that moderate employment has beneficial health effects for the elderly.

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Authors
Snyder, S., & Evans, W.
Affiliations
University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
ORCID
Evans, William
Venue
National Bureau of Economic Research
Publisher
National Bureau of Economic Research
Published
2002-09
DOI
10.3386/w9197
OpenAlex
W2122417300
Cited by
75
References
4
Citations by year
2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
Type
report
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • National Bureau of Economic Research (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Clemson University
  • Syracuse University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Retirement, Disability, and Employment
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis
Keywords
income and mortality, social security benefits, elderly health, life expectancy, post-retirement employment, older workers, cohort differences

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