Abstract: Using a sample of Europeans aged 50+ from twelve countries in the Survey
of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) we analyse the role of poor
material conditionsas a determinant of changes in health over a four-year period. We find
that poverty defined with respect to relative incomes has no effect on changes
in health. However, broader
measures of poor material conditions such as subjective poverty or low
relative value of wealth significantly increase the probability of transition
to poor health among thehealthy and reduce the chance of recovery from poor health over the time
interval analysed. In addition to this the subjective measure of poverty has a
significant effect on mortality,increasing it by 40.3% among men and by 58.3% among those aged 50–64.
Material conditions matter for health among older people. We suggest that if
monitoring of povertyin old age and corresponding policy targets are to focus on the relevant
measures, they should take into account broader definitions of poverty than
those based only on relativeincomes.IZA Discussion Papers, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA)
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