TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Wunder, Christoph
AU  - Schwarze, Johannes
        TI  - Is Posner Right? An Empirical Test of the Posner Argument for Transferring Health Spending from Old Women to Old Men
        PY  - 2009/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 4485
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp4485
        AB  - Posner (1995) proposes the redistribution of health spending from old women to old men to equalize life expectancy. His argument is based on the assumption that women's utility is higher if they are married. Thus, extending the lifespan of men would benefit women. Using life satisfaction data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we conduct an empirical test of this assumption. We apply a two-step estimation strategy: first, we use a propensity score matching approach to generate a control group of non-widowed women. The average level of life satisfaction in the control group serves as a reference to measure the degree of adaptation to widowhood. In the second step, the life satisfaction trajectories of both groups are estimated using penalized spline regressions. The results suggest bereavement has no enduring effect on life satisfaction, and that falsifies Posner's assumption.
        KW  - widowhood
KW  - adaptation
KW  - subjective well-being
KW  - life satisfaction
KW  - penalized spline regression
KW  - propensity score matching
        ER  -