Workshop on Human Potential (Janna Johnson, Harris School)

Janna Johnson, Postdoctoral Scholar, NORC, will present, “"Does Moving Kill?  The Effect of Migration on Older-Age Mortality.”

Abstract:  This is the first known paper to examine the effect of long-distance migration at young ages on the older-age mortality of white internal migrants in the United States.  We consider individuals born in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana over the period 1916-1927.  Despite documented positive selection of migrants on education and earnings, basic OLS results indicate migration has a significant negative effect on longevity over age 65.  To account for selection of migrants, we employ an instrumental variables (IV) strategy.  We instrument for migration using one’s place of birth from a railroad.  Our IV results indicate that, given that one has reached age 65, migration out of these three states reduces the probability of living to age 75 by 16%.  Most potential violations of our instrument predict the presence of positive bias, meaning that the true effect of migration on longevity over age 65 is even more negative if this bias is present.  We provide evidence against both the presence of negative bias due to dynamic selection of our sample and due to a potential negative impact of being born near a railroad on health.  Our findings highlight the differences in the need for elderly care in urban and rural areas, and indicate the importance of controlling for migration in estimating the causal impact of education on health. 

Bio: Janna E. Johnson is a postdoctoral scholar at NORC at the University of Chicago.  She received her PhD from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago in 2012 and her AB from Dartmouth College in 2006.  Her research interests include economic demography, population measurement, labor economics, and applied econometrics.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential is one of the core intellectual activities of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. It is an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students, post docs, and faculty whose work concerns behavior, health, and well-being across the lifespan and the ways in which technology and public policy shape human potential and achievement. The Workshop/Working group has active members in the areas of the social, behavioral, health, and policy sciences.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.