title: Health, Height, Height Shrinkage, and SES at Older Ages: Evidence from China.
abstract: In this paper, we build on the literature that examines associations between height and health outcomes of the elderly. We investigate the associations of height shrinkage at older ages with socioeconomic status, finding that height shrinkage for both men and women is negatively associated with better schooling, current urban residence, and household per capita expenditures. We then investigate the relationships between pre-shrinkage height, height shrinkage, and a rich set of health outcomes of older respondents, finding that height shrinkage is positively associated with poor health outcomes across a variety of outcomes, being especially strong for cognition outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Harvard University, Littauer Center, 1805 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: China Center for Economic Research, National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing 100871.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Southern California, 300 Kaprielian Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90089.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ridder
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Southern California, 300 Kaprielian Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90089.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.affiliation: China Center for Economic Research, National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Yaohui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao