Given that economic growth is associated with increased life expectancy, declines in cognitive ability among the elder is a critical problem across the developed world. In this paper, we analyze the causal effect of the death of a spouse on the surviving spouse’s cognitive ability using the fixed effect model. The reliability of the estimates is enhanced by robustness checks, such as an event study model, to attend to potential threats to identification. Results show that, on average, spousal loss significantly reduces the cognitive functioning of the surviving spouse. We also study heterogeneity in the effect of spousal loss, finding that co-residing with children greatly mitigates the negative effect of bereavement.
This study examines the relationship between the size of a country and its “take-off” for economic development. We find that most countries which experienced economic upheavals in the past decades are relatively small in terms of area. Specifically, take-offs appear to be quicker for smaller landmasses with larger potential workforce and higher population density, controlled for financial markets maturity, corporate governance, economic openness, and human capital development. We also find that take-offs are not sustainable by nature as most countries in East Asia that which experience take-offs are currently facing slow-downs of their economies. Through this finding, we predict that China may experience a slow-down at around 36% and may reach to the 50-60% of income level of the U.S.
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