Workshop on low fertility and population aging

On 2 March 2017 we welcomed Prof. Masako Oyama from Ryukoku University and held a workshop on low fertility and population aging. Prof. Oyama presented the results of joint research with Prof. Fumio Otake from Osaka University under the title "Area income distribution, health and happiness in Japan".

The goal of their empirical research was to analyze how aerial income distribution affects the health and happiness of Japanese people, and how the income distribution has changed in response to government policies. The effects of area-level income distribution on individual health and happiness were estimated using nationwide micro-data in Japan. Eight measures of income inequality, seven measures of health and one measure of happiness were used in the logit and ordered logit estimations. 

The estimation results showed that higher income inequality is not associated with health, but associated with higher happiness.  Also, schooling, marital status, age, gender, smoking and drinking habit, household income, unemployment and trust to others affected individual health or happiness statistically significantly.