The Welfare State, the Life Course and Cross-National Variation in Socioeconomic Disparities in Health and Aging

Steven A. Haas, Pennsylvania State University

This study integrates two increasingly central lines of research on socioeconomic disparities in health. Cross-national comparative research on the role of welfare state regimes/policies and life course/developmental perspectives on health have each provided important insights into the genesis of health disparities. However, despite their complementarity, these two research agendas have had very little connection with each other. Using cross-national data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), and the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) I investigate cross-national differences in health disparities among the elderly in 17 countries. Specifically, I address two research questions. First, to what extent does the the impact of poor childhood health and socioeconomic disadvantage on later-life health outcomes vary across societies? Second, to what extent does early life health and material disadvantage help explain cross-national differences in the magnitude of socioeconomic disparities in health?