Sep 29
Annual Veblen-Clark Lecture by Dr. Mariacristina De Nardi
Tue, September 29, 2026
• 4:00pm
- 5:15pm (1h 15m) • Weitz 236
"Midlife Health and Later-life Economic Inequality" by Mariacristina De Nardi
Dr. De Nardi is the Thomas Sargent Professor at the University of Minnesota and a Consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Abstract:
Health shapes a broad set of later-life outcomes that are central to macroeconomics and public policy, including disability receipt, retirement, long-term care use, and survival. Yet we know little about how much differences in midlife health contribute to disparities in these outcomes later in life by race, ethnicity, and gender. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we construct a measure of health based on frailty and document large disparities at midlife. Black men and women have frailty levels at age 55 comparable to those of White men and women who are 13 and 20 years older, respectively, while the corresponding gaps for Hispanic men and women are 8 and 12 years. We then estimate a dynamic system linking health at age 55 to subsequent outcomes. Equalizing the distribution of health at age 55 across groups substantially reduces disparities in time spent in poor health, disability benefit receipt, and nursing home residence. Importantly, midlife health can account for later-life disparities more than education, health insurance coverage, and marital status jointly.
The Economics Department's annual Veblen-Clark Lectureship brings an outstanding scholar in economics to Carleton each year for a public lecture and meetings with students and faculty. The lectureship presumes no ideological bias, but celebrates the variety of viewpoints and paradigms demonstrated by Veblen and Clark that have historically enriched the study of economics at Carleton.