[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v22y2022i3p475-525n7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Spousal Loss on the Cognitive Ability of the Elder

Author

Listed:
  • Lee Hwanoong

    (Korea Institute of Public Finance, 336, Sicheong-Daero, Sejong-si, Korea)

  • Ko Changsu

    (Korea Institute of Public Finance, 336, Sicheong-Daero, Sejong-si, Korea)

Abstract
Given that economic growth is associated with increased life expectancy, declines in cognitive ability among the elder is a critical problem across the developed world. In this paper, we analyze the causal effect of the death of a spouse on the surviving spouse’s cognitive ability using the fixed effect model. The reliability of the estimates is enhanced by robustness checks, such as an event study model, to attend to potential threats to identification. Results show that, on average, spousal loss significantly reduces the cognitive functioning of the surviving spouse. We also study heterogeneity in the effect of spousal loss, finding that co-residing with children greatly mitigates the negative effect of bereavement.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee Hwanoong & Ko Changsu, 2022. "The Effect of Spousal Loss on the Cognitive Ability of the Elder," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(3), pages 475-525, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:22:y:2022:i:3:p:475-525:n:7
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2021-0201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2021-0201
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2021-0201?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cognitive ability; dementia; bereavement; household composition; Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:22:y:2022:i:3:p:475-525:n:7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.