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Economics

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Selected Works

Selected Works

2009

Working Papers

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

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Modeling Labor Market Policy In Developing Countries: A Selective Review Of The Literature And Needs For The Future, Gary S. Fields Dec 2009

Modeling Labor Market Policy In Developing Countries: A Selective Review Of The Literature And Needs For The Future, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Sound labor market policy requires sound labor market models. Sound models have three characteristics. First, from a welfare economic point of view, the policy judgments are explicit, mutually consistent, and thoroughly worked out. Second, from a theoretical point of view, the models are sufficiently detailed and suitably rigorous. And third, from an empirical point of view, the models guide and are guided by solid quantitative evidence. This paper reviews models of labor markets in developing countries from both a positive and a normative point of view. The survey is selective in that it exposits only some of the more …


On The Rise Of Health Spending And Longevity, Raquel Fonseca, Pierre-Carl Michaud, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn Nov 2009

On The Rise Of Health Spending And Longevity, Raquel Fonseca, Pierre-Carl Michaud, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn

Titus Galama

We use a calibrated stochastic life-cycle model of endogenous health spending, asset accumulation and retirement to investigate the causes behind the increase in health spending and life expectancy over the period 1965-2005. We estimate that technological change along with the increase in the generosity of health insurance may explain independently 53% of the rise in health spending (insurance 29% and technology 24%) while income less than 10%. By simultaneously occurring over this period, these changes may have lead to a “synergy” or interaction effect which helps explain an additional 37% increase in health spending. We estimate that technological change, taking …


Grossman’S Missing Health Threshold, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn Apr 2009

Grossman’S Missing Health Threshold, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn

Titus Galama

We present a generalized solution to Grossman’s model of health capital (1972), relaxing the widely used assumption that individuals can adjust their health stock instantaneously to an “optimal” level without adjustment costs. The Grossman model then predicts the existence of a health threshold above which individuals do not demand medical care. Our generalized solution addresses a significant criticism: the model’s prediction that health and medical care are positively related is consistently rejected by the data. We suggest structural and reduced form equations to test our generalized solution and contrast the predictions of the model with the empirical literature.


Employment In Low-Income Countries: Beyond Labor Market Segmentation?, Gary S. Fields Apr 2009

Employment In Low-Income Countries: Beyond Labor Market Segmentation?, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

No abstract provided.


U.S. Earnings Mobility: Comparing Survey-Based And Administrative-Based Estimates, Lisa M. Dragoset, Gary S. Fields Apr 2009

U.S. Earnings Mobility: Comparing Survey-Based And Administrative-Based Estimates, Lisa M. Dragoset, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

Earnings mobility has been studied both at the macro level (how much of a certain kind of mobility is there in the economy?) and at the micro level (what are the correlates of change in income or position?). Many empirical mobility studies provide estimates of the amount of mobility in a country over time and the correlates of individual mobility within the income distribution. While measurement error is recognized as potentially important at both these levels, very little is known about the degree to which earnings mobility estimates are affected by measurement error. In this paper, we use a new …


Grossman's Health Threshold And Retirement, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn, Raquel Fonseca, Pierre-Carl Michaud Dec 2008

Grossman's Health Threshold And Retirement, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn, Raquel Fonseca, Pierre-Carl Michaud

Titus Galama

We formulate a stylized structural model of health, wealth accumulation and retirement decisions building on the human capital framework of health provided by Grossman. We explicitly assume a functional form of the utility function and carefully account for initial conditions, which allow us to derive analytic solutions for the time paths of consumption, health, health investment, savings and retirement. We argue that the Grossman literature has been unnecessarily restrictive in assuming that health is always at Grossman’s “optimal” health level. Exploring the properties of corner solutions we find that advances in population health (health capital) can explain the paradox that …