Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers Creation-Date: 0000-00-00 Number: 08-051/3 Author-Name: France Portrait Author-Email: france.portrait@falw.vu.nl Author-Workplace-Name: VU University Amsterdam Author-Name: Rob Alessie Author-Email: r.alessie@econ.uu.nl Author-Workplace-Name: Utrecht University, and Netspar Author-Name: Dorly Deeg Author-Email: djh.deeg.emgo@med.vu.nl Author-Workplace-Name: VU University Amsterdam Title: Do Early Life and Contemporaneous Macro-conditions explain Health at Older Ages? Abstract: The paper presents an approach which thoroughly assesses the role of early life and contemporaneous macro-conditions in explaining health at older ages. In particular, we investigate the role of exposure to infectious diseases and economic conditions during infancy and childhood, as well as the effect of current health care facilities. Specific attention is paid to the impact of unobserved heterogeneity, selective attrition and omitted relevant macro-variables. We apply our approach to self-reports on functional limitations of Dutch older individuals. Our analysis is performed using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. The prevalence of functional limitations is found to increase in the nineteen-nineties, in part due to restricted access to hospital care. Classification-JEL: I12; J11; J17 Keywords: early life macro-conditions; contemporaneous macro-conditions,functional limitations; aging File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/08051.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 256461 bytes Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20080051