NBER Harmonized Variables for Health Survey Data

This project is no longer maintained

Source Poterba, Venti and Wise

The NBER has set out to create a series of Stata scripts to generate harmonized health variables across many of the aging surveys. In particular, the scripts should be used by researchers who have requested and currently have access to the data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR). The NBER does not redistribute the data from each of these aging surveys. Note that individuals can work with any or all of the surveys in the above list, if interested in using a subset of surveys comment out the appropriate sections of the code in the runmaster.do file.

Is this harmonization project useful to me?

The link to the document found at the end of this paragraph provides a listing of all harmonized variables found in the PVW subset of health variables along with the full-harmonization set. The listing should make it easier for users to decide whether the harmonization may be of use to them.
Harmonized variable listing

Requesting Access to the data:

Requesting access to the data is straightforward for the most part and consists of entering into a data use agreement (DUA) with the institutions distributing the surveys. Be sure to read each DUA carefully and follow the instructions.

ELSA - http://www.esds.ac.uk/aandp/access/access.asp. After receiving a user name and password log on using the UK Data Archive as your home institution.
HRS AND HRSRAND http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/index.php?p=reg
SHARE - http://www.share-project.org/data-access-documentation/research-data-center-data-access.html
JSTAR - http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/projects/jstar/

Poterba, Venti, and Wise (PVW) health index variables only :

The total group of health variables harmonized has been split into a subgroup of variables directly related to the PVW health index developed in Poterba, J.M., S.F. Venti, and D.A. Wise (2011) Family status transitions, latent health and the post-retirement evolution of assets. In D.A. Wise (ed.), Exploration in the Economics of Aging, University of Chicago Press: Chicago; 23-69.

Note that this harmonization does not require users to download HRS files which are not included with the RAND harmonization files, making it slightly easier to set up.

Download PVW Stata pack

All harmonized health variables

This section provides links to the Stata scripts, as well as the accompanying documentation for the full list of harmonized variables. Note that the full list makes use of several HRS variables that are not found in the HRS RAND products and therefore requires users to download several other files -see the README.pdf in the accompanying Stata script pack.

Download full variable harmonization Stata pack

Running the PVW Health Survey Harmonization

Frequently asked questions

If you have comments or suggestions, e-mail Maurice Dalton