What is health? A multiple correspondence health index

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

June 1, 2012

Summary:

This paper illustrates a health index that uses multiple correspondence analysis to reduce multiple discrete indicators to a continuous variable using minimal modeling assumptions. The continuous index enables fixed effects estimators when health is the dependent variable, and it exhibits more variation than self-assessed health (SAH) to support identification when health is an independent variable. I compute this index for 18 waves of the British Household Panel Survey, describe its features, and compare its use to SAH. The index performs better in dynamic models of health and subsumes the explanatory power of SAH in wage equations.

Published in

Eastern Economic Journal

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 38 , p.223 -250

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/eej.2011.5

ISSN

945056

Subjects

Notes

Not held in Research Library - bibliographic reference only

#522434

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