Three essays on socio-economic determinants of health : a life-course approach

Abstract

The thesis is composed of three chapters that analyse the influence of different socio-economic factors on health in the prism of life-course approach, which considers health to be a stock of capital that depreciates with age and can be augmented with investments.

In the first chapter of the thesis I study the long-term effect of macroeconomic crises in the prime working age on health later in life using the data set of the ageing population of Europe, SHARE.

In the second chapter I develop a theoretical model in which health is produced partially using medical care and partially following cost-free health rules which induce disutility. I derive a structural equation of the demand for health and test it using the Russian Longitudinal data set.

In the third chapter I study the effect of the working conditions at the main job of the career on physical and mental health later in life.