TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Halliday, Timothy J.
AU  - He, Hui
AU  - Zhang, Hao
        TI  - Health Investment over the Life-Cycle
        PY  - 2009/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 4482
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp4482
        AB  - We study the evolution of health investment over the life-cycle by calibrating a model of endogenous health accumulation. The model is able to produce the decline in labor supply with age as well as the hump-shaped consumption profile. In both cases, health and health investment play a crucial role as the former encroaches upon healthy time and the latter crowds out non-medical expenditures as people age. Finally, we quantify the value of health as both an investment and a consumption good. We show that the investment motive is about three times higher than the consumption motive during the early 20s, but decreases over the life-cycle until it disappears at retirement. In contrast, the consumption motive increases with age and surpasses the investment motive during the mid 40s.
        KW  - medical expenditures
KW  - structural model
KW  - health investment
        ER  -