When can a healthy economy actually shorten a lifespan?

Part of the answer may depend on where you live (industrial vs. agricultural economy). The findings of recent work by Harvard Pop Center faculty member and health economist David Cutler and his colleagues is cited in this New York Times article. He also comments on how opioids may be influencing the impact that the economy has on our health.

Lisa Berkman speaks on widening gap between longevity & socioeconomic status on PBS NewsHour Weekend

Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman appears on PBS NewsHour Weekend speaking about the longevity gap between people at opposite ends of the economic ladder. The interview is part of the series Chasing the Dream, a new public media initiative about poverty and opportunity in America. Watch the web-based episode now. Learn more in this feature by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In South Africa, child support grants not found to incentivize having more children

Harvard Bell Fellow Molly Rosenberg, PhD, is lead author on a paper published in PLOS One that examines how receiving a social protection grant may influence fertility. Exposure to a child support grant was not found to incentivize pregnancy, however, it could result in longer spacing between pregnancies. Harvard Pop Center faculty members Till Bärnighausen, Kathleen Kahn, and Stephen Tollman are also authors on the paper.

New indices based on local distributions of wealth may offer more accurate insights into health inequalities in India

Recent Bell Fellow Daniel Corsi, PhD, has co-authored a study published in PLoSOne that introduces a new approach for analyzing nationally representative household survey data. By analyzing local distributions of wealth, Corsi and his colleagues hope to offer wealth index scores that will serve as more valid indicators of wealth and will correlate well with health outcomes.

The Complexities of Assessing Health Impacts of Urbanicity in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A Pop Center Perspective

Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, and Bell Fellow Fahad Razak, MD, have published a Perspective in PLoS Medicine in response to a study titled Urbanicity and Lifestyle Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Diseases in Rural Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study.