This project explores fundamental questions about habit formation and the role of nudges and other behavioral economic devices. It considers these questions in the health-relevant context of generating exercise habits. The study develops behavioral economic theory and links it outcomes from our large randomized study of exercise commitment contracts and nudges.
Despite the fact that physical health and cognitive abilities decline with age, emotion regulation remains stable or improves across the adult lifespan. The consequence of these changes for decision-making is complex and likely varies with choice domain. Here, we investigate this interaction in the domain of intertemporal choice: a broad range of everyday decisions (e.g. healthy eating, retirement savings, exercise) that require trade-offs between immediate satisfaction and long-term wellbeing.
A research report, “A survey of rural-urban migrants in Shenzhen, China”, based on findings from this project, was submitted to the Shenzhen government in December of 2005. Since then, the Santa Fe Institute International Program, the Ministry of Education of China and the Treasury Department of China funded further research. Dr.
The researchers developed models for the time course of the economic demography of remote Chinese villages that takes into account the migration, and sometimes return, of the villagers, the predicted remittances, the costs for maintenance of those remaining in the villages (mainly parents and children of the migrants), and the marriage squeeze on males, which is very pronounced in remote rural China. They constructed formal mathematical models that include the above-mentioned features, as well as the rate of migration (which is available from our data).
This seed grant aimed to verify the ages of elderly individuals in a sample of Khomani San “Bushmen” from South Africa. With verified data, the researchers then aim to identify genetic loci associated with longevity in their sample. In November 2011, the researchers returned to South Africa and conducted follow-up interviews with 60 subjects; additionally they were able to enroll 41 new subjects in the study for a total of 101 subjects. They confirmed that half of their sample exceeded 50 years of age (up to age 98).
The researchers conducted a series of studies using nationally-representative data from the recent WHO Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (SAGE) to identify the relationship between NCD-related disability among adults over 50 years of age in India and healthcare utilization and costs. The study to date has found that older rural women were disproportionately affected by non-diagnosed NCDs, with high out of pocket healthcare expenditures increasing the probability of remaining symptomatic from NCDs.
Il Rae Cho, "Preparing Financially for Aging and Retirement"
Recently, many issues related to aging have become more serious in both economic and social aspects all over the world. Aging is something that nobody can avoid or neglect. However, most people tend to consider the issue of aging and retirement less serious than needed in real situations. The lack of preparation for retirement may cause an economic turmoil to an individual's retirement life and national finance for social security. In this presentation, Cho will show the current situations about aging and retirement and will offer practical solutions.
Yong Je Kim, "Next Generation Multimedia - What Will That Be?
Can you imagine the future TV and mobile phone? What will they look like?
Only a few years ago, the main feature of a mobile phone was to make simple voice calls. Today, we can do so much more - watch drama shows, sports and movies; take pictures and send them anywhere; and stay up-to-date checking the news and stock information of all countries in real time. Through social media, we can share our opinion with many people regardless of location. We can purchase goods or buy tickets for a concert simply using our mobile phones - without needing actual money or credit cards. At the same time, TVs are getting smarter - providing useful functions like online shopping, remote video calls and watching movies without going to the movie theater.
There are many technologies to enable these improvements, but the key technology is multimedia. In this presentation, Kim will introduce some noticeable multimedia components and their progress, including examples of possible future TV and mobile phones.
Philippines Conference Room
Yong Je Kim is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2013. Kim has been working at Samsung Electronics for 28 years in the R&D Center. His work has focused mainly in the area of multimedia signal processing for digital TV and mobile phones, serving most recently as the Senior Vice President of the multimedia R&D team. Kim received his bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from Sogang University and his master's degree from Ajou University.
A tremendous amount of radioactive products were discharged as a result of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, which resulted in radioactive contamination of the plant and surrounding areas. While geographical distribution of radioactive iodine, tellurium, and cesium in the surface soils was smoothly (but not always systematically) widespread all over the region, health risk information by the government, media, and other organizations is most likely to be given in terms of administrative boundaries (cf. prefectures, municipalities, etc.) and/or distance from the radiation source.
This paper estimates the effect of such health risk information rather than the actual health risks of radiation on land and other prices in different locations. We find that the prefecture and municipality border effects – but not the distance effect from the nuclear power plant – are significantly related to a reduction in land and other prices after the accident. This shows that people responded to health risk information based on administrative boundaries rather than the actual health risk of radiation after the disaster. Although health risk information based on prefecture and municipality boundaries has an obvious advantage of distilling large and complex risk information into a simple one, the government, media, and other organizations need to recognize and carefully examine the potential of misclassifying non-contaminated areas into contaminated prefectures. Doing so will avoid unintentional consequences to the region’s economy.
Hiroaki Matsuura is currently Departmental Lecturer in the Economy of Japan in the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford and a Junior Research Fellow of St. Antony’s College. His main interests are health economics and demography, with a special interest in the relation between laws and population health. Hiroaki received his B.A. in Economics from Keio University, M.A. in Social Science from the University of Chicago, M.S. in Project Management from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Sc.D. in Global Health and Population (Economics track) from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. In the past, he was affiliated with Institute of Quantitative Social Sciences, Human Rights in Development, and Takemi Program in International Health at Harvard University. He also worked as a research assistant at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His doctoral dissertation research explores a right to health or to health care in national constitutions of 157 countries and state constitutions of the 50 U.S. states and estimates the impact of introducing (or removing) a right to health or to health care into national and state constitutions on health system and population health outcomes. His most recent article, “The Right to Health in Japan: Challenges of a Super Aging Society and Implication from Its 2011 Public Health Emergency” (with Eriko Sase) will be appeared on “Advancing the Human Right to Health”, edited by José M. Zuniga, Stephen P. Marks, and Lawrence O. Gostin, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Encina Hall, Room C338-H1
616 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6019
Neesha Joseph is Program Manager for the Stanford Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging (CDEHA) and the Stanford Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging (CADMA). In this capacity she oversees center operations, including coordinating pilot projects and center conferences and activities. She also conducts policy research on health care topics, such as the impact of age on innovation in health research, the cost and disease management implications of patient comorbidity in Medicare populations, and the impact of of health care reform on physician human capital.
She brings with her experience in health research and management. Previously Neesha worked as a Research Analyst specializing in health economics at the Milken Institute, where she was involved with various aging initiatives. She received a master's degree in public policy from the USC Price School of Public Policy, and her areas of interest include health economics and international development.
Grant Miller will discuss the results of his SAPARC-funded research in rural China, supplementing a large NIH-funded project about pay-for-performance to improve health. The research was designed to test the effect of offering school principals small incentives for anemia reduction on the health and academic performance of primary school students – potentially leading to substantially more cost-effective health policies.
Grant Miller, PHD, MPP, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, a Core Faculty Member at the Center for Health Policy/Primary Care and Outcomes Research, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He is also a Faculty Fellow of the Stanford Center for International Development and a Faculty Affiliate of the Stanford Center for Latin American Studies. His primary areas of interest are health and development economics and economic demography.
Miller's current research focuses broadly on behavioral obstacles to health improvement in developing countries. One line of studies investigates household decision-making underlying puzzlingly low adoption rates of highly efficacious health technologies (like point-of-use drinking water disinfectants and improved cookstoves) in many poor countries. Another vein of research investigates misaligned macro- and micro-level incentives governing the supply of health technologies and services. He has conducted these and other research projects at institutions including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Urban Institute, and the University of California-San Francisco's Institute for Health Policy Studies. He received a BA in psychology from Yale College, a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a PhD in health policy/economics also from Harvard.
Philippines Conference Room
Encina Commons Room 101,
615 Crothers Way,
Stanford, CA 94305-6006
As a health and development economist based at the Stanford School of Medicine, Dr. Miller's overarching focus is research and teaching aimed at developing more effective health improvement strategies for developing countries.
His agenda addresses three major interrelated themes: First, what are the major causes of population health improvement around the world and over time? His projects addressing this question are retrospective observational studies that focus both on historical health improvement and the determinants of population health in developing countries today. Second, what are the behavioral underpinnings of the major determinants of population health improvement? Policy relevance and generalizability require knowing not only which factors have contributed most to population health gains, but also why. Third, how can programs and policies use these behavioral insights to improve population health more effectively? The ultimate test of policy relevance is the ability to help formulate new strategies using these insights that are effective.