This workshop, held June 13, 2013 at the Carolina Population Center (CPC), will highlight the collaborative research, innovative ideas, and new technologies shared between CPC and the Duke Population Research Institute (DuPRI).
CPC and DuPRI collaborate in second annual ‘Demographic Daze’ workshop, June 2013
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Economics and Demography of Aging, Harvard
Qualified applicants are sought for one year post-doctoral fellowships in the Economics and Demography of Aging to begin September 2013. The successful post-doctoral fellows will continue his/her training through a one-year fellowship (with the possibility of a second year) at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.
Ana Diez Roux says Americans’ health problems are systemic
Despite spending more per capita on health care than citizens of any other country, Americans are less healthy and dying younger than their international peers. Ana Diez Roux, a member of the panel convened to study the issue by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, says the panel was surprised by “the sheer systemic nature of the problem, that affects so many health outcomes across the whole lifespan.”
Ulrike Malmendier (CEDA) awarded Fisher Black Prize
The Fisher Black Prize is awarded by the from the American Finance Association to a finance scholar under 40 whose work best exemplifies the goal of developing original research. Ulrike Malmendier won in 2013 for the originality of her work exploring the intersection between economics and finance, or behavioral corporate finance.
Michael Hurd (RAND) discusses dementia study in NYT
In this story, Michael Hurd, lead author on the study under discussion, talks about the large and growing costs of dementia in the U.S. In addition to growing health care costs, Hurd says the costs for informal dementia care are probably much higher than for most other diseases. He also discusses the estimated 22% of Americans over age 71 with mild cognitive impairment that does not (yet) reach the threshold of dementia. When it comes to dementia, Hurd says his team’s study could not capture the full toll of dementia: “One thing we haven’t talked about, and it’s not in the paper, is the tremendous emotional cost,” he said. “Economists are coldhearted, but they’re not that coldhearted.”
NIH-funded study at RAND and University of Michigan estimates costs of dementia
This study is one of the most comprehensive yet to determine health care costs for dementia. Researchers used Heath and Retirement Study data to calculate the costs of direct care (nursing homes, Medicare, and out-of pocket) as well as informal/unpaid caregiving. “Dementia costs currently rival those of cancer and heart disease. But, within 30 years, dementia may be in a league of its own,” said Richard Suzman, director of NIA’s Division of Social and Behavioral Research. A research report can be found at [*The New England Journal of Medicine*](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204629).
Alberto Palloni (Wisconsin) organizes 2013 International Conference on Aging in the Americas, Sept 17-19, 2013, Austin TX
The 2013 ICAA meeting will focus on the changing demographics in Mexico and its impact on the health and financial well-being of aging Mexicans and on Mexican Americans in the context of the second epidemiologic transition.
Toni Antonucci (Michigan) and Laura Carstensen (Stanford) discuss some causes and effects of happiness in later years
In this video, Antonucci, Carstensen, and Debra Umberson, who all contributed to USN&WR’s e-book, [“How to Live to 100,”](http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2012/09/24/how-to-live-to-100) discusses the happiness factor. She and two other experts focus on areas of people’s lives in which they can influence and control the happiness they receive from the people they spend time with and from their work, as well as the impact on happiness of the nation’s growing acceptance of same-sex relationships.
Arline T. Geronimus wins Excellence in Research Award from School of Public Health
Arline Geronimus was presented the 2013 Excellence in Research Award at U-M School of Public Health’s graduation ceremonies May 2. This award recognizes outstanding scholarly and creative activity in research, and represents productivity, leadership, and peer recognition. During the award presentation, Geronimus was cited for her “weathering” analytic framework, which presaged later population health research on biomarkers and epigenetics, and her work on teen childbearing, which changed the conversation around this issue in scientific and policy circles.
MRRC, NBER-RRC, CRR-BC and the SSA hold annual meeting of the Retirement Research Consortium, Aug 1-2, 2013, Washington DC
The 15th annual meeting of the Retirement Research Consortium, “Retirement Security in Changing Times,” will be held August 1-2, 2013 at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The meeting is jointly funded by the University of Michigan Retirement Research Center (MRRC), the NBER Retirement Research Center, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR-BC) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).