TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sickles,Robin C.
AU  - Taubman,Paul J.
TI  - An Analysis of the Health and Retirement Status of the Elderly
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1459
PY  - 1984
Y2  - September 1984
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1459
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1459.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robin C. Sickles

Paul Taubman
Department of Economics
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
AB  - in this paper we specify and estimate a structural limited dependent variable model with which we study both the health and retirement status of the elderly. Standard linear estimators, which assume that these variable sare continuous, are not appropriate and categorical estimation techniques are preferred. Our model differs from previous work in that we have longitudinal data and random effects that are correlated over time for different individuals. The problem is made more complicated because there is sample truncation, which could potentially bias coefficient estimates, since approximately twenty percent of the individuals in our sample die. We outline the full information maximum likelihood estimator for such a model and implement it in our empirical analysis. With our structural estimates we analyze, among other things, the degree to which endogeneously determined health status affects the probability of retirement and how changes in social security benefits and eligibility for transfer payments modify both healthiness and the demand for leisure.
ER  -