The health implications of social security failure: evidence from the Russian pension crisis

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jensen, RT; Richter, K
• 署名单位: Harvard University; The World Bank; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00143-3
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 209-236
• 关键词: insurance; pensions/social security; health/mortality; poverty; elderly; RUSSIA

摘要

We explore whether health is vulnerable to income shocks, focusing on a recent crisis in Russia during which many pensioners were not paid for an extended period of time. Using panel data spanning the crisis, we find that among affected pensioners, poverty rates doubled, and the intake of calories and protein and the use of health services and medications declined significantly. These pensioners were also 5 percent more likely to die in the two years following the crisis. However, households responded in ways that mitigated the impact of the crisis, replacing one-fifth of lost pension income through increased labor supply and asset sales. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.