TY - JOUR
T1 - A New Method for Determining Why Length of Life is More Unequal in Some Populations Than in Others
AU - Nau, Claudia
AU - Firebaugh, Glenn
N1 - Funding Information:
Nau was supported by a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Training Grant from the Population Research Institute at Pennsylvania State University. This research was partially supported through an NIH infrastructure grant to the Population Research Institute (R24HD041025). Versions of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in March 2009, at Indiana University in September 2010, at Pennsylvania State University in February 2011, at the University of Texas in April 2011, and at Oxford University in November 2011. We thank Doug Anderton, Patrick Heuveline, and Bob Hummer for helpful and reassuring comments.
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Why is there greater variability in individual longevity in some populations than in others? We propose a decomposition method designed to address that question by quantifying the effects of population differences in the spread, allocation, and timing of the principal causes of death. Applying the method to the United States and Sweden, we find that spread effects account for about two-thirds of the greater variance in age at death among American adults, meaning that two-thirds of the U. S.-Sweden difference would persist if the two countries differed only with respect to within-cause variance among adults. The remainder of the difference is due largely to allocation effects, with the greater incidence of homicides and fatal traffic accidents alone accounting for more than one-fourth of the greater variance in age at death among adults in the United States.
AB - Why is there greater variability in individual longevity in some populations than in others? We propose a decomposition method designed to address that question by quantifying the effects of population differences in the spread, allocation, and timing of the principal causes of death. Applying the method to the United States and Sweden, we find that spread effects account for about two-thirds of the greater variance in age at death among American adults, meaning that two-thirds of the U. S.-Sweden difference would persist if the two countries differed only with respect to within-cause variance among adults. The remainder of the difference is due largely to allocation effects, with the greater incidence of homicides and fatal traffic accidents alone accounting for more than one-fourth of the greater variance in age at death among adults in the United States.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84869110471
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84869110471#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1007/s13524-012-0133-9
DO - 10.1007/s13524-012-0133-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 23011942
AN - SCOPUS:84869110471
SN - 0070-3370
VL - 49
SP - 1207
EP - 1230
JO - Demography
JF - Demography
IS - 4
ER -
