Reciprocal Effects of Health and Economic Well-Being among Older Adults in Taiwan and Beiji.pdf

PA PE RSPOLICY R E S E A R C H D I V I S I O NwoRKING Reciprocal Effects of Health and Economic Well-Being among Older Adults in Taiwan and Beijing Kristine R. Baker Mary Beth Ofstedal Zachary Zimmer Zhe Tang Yi-Li Chuang 2005 No. 197 One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza New York, New York 10017 USA pubinfo@ This material may not be reproduced without written permission from the authors. For a list of Policy Research Division Working Papers, including those that are currently available for downloading in PDF format, see /publications/wp/prd/rdwplist.html. ISSN: 1554-8538 ? 2005 The Population Council, Inc. Reciprocal Effects of Health and Economic Well-Being among Older Adults in Taiwan and Beijing Kristine R. Baker, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Zachary Zimmer, Zhe Tang, and Yi-Li Chuang Kristine R. Baker is Postdoctoral Fellow, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan. Mary Beth Ofstedal is Associate Research Scientist, Survey Research Center and Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Zachary Zimmer is Associate, Population Council. Zhe Tang is Head and Director of Research, Capital University of Medical Science, Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing. Yi-Li Chuang is Section Chief, Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taiwan. Acknowledgments: Research for this paper is supported by parallel grants from the National Institute on Aging: R01 AG20063-01 and R01 AG20072-01, and the Training in the Demography and Economics of Aging grant: 5 T32 AG00221. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Gerontological Society of America meetings in Washington D.C., November 21, 2004. ABSTRACT The objectives of this study are threefold: 1) to examine whether socioeconomic status disparities in health are found in non-Western settings; 2) to assess whether socioeconomic status gradients in health endure into older ages; and 3) to evaluate the direction of causal