HAYWARD, MARK D.
MCLAUGHLIN, DIANE K.
HANDCOCK, MARK S.
A Distributional Approach to Examining Differences in Life Expectancy
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1997
Cohort(s): Older Men
ID Number: 2802
Publisher: Population Association of America

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Population heterogeneity in mortality is typically illustrated using group-specific life tables or covariate effects in statistical models. These approaches ignore group differences in the distributions of mortality risks. Here, we use methods of interdistributional comparisons to examine group differences in the distributions of life chances. Using data from the NLS-Older Men Survey, we derive an empirically determined distribution of life expectancy for middle-aged men. The distribution has a long frail tail with the curve becoming convex after life expectancy reaches the mode. This distribution is treated as a baseline distribution of population heterogeneity in mortality We compare other distributions derived from simulations to assess how the effects of improving individuals' life circumstances would alter the distribution of life chances in the population.

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