Errors introduced by using aggregate data in estimating a consumer demand model have long been a concern. We study the effects of such errors on elasticity estimates derived from AIDS and QUAIDS models. Based on a survey of published articles, a generic parameterization of the income...

The paper explores the allocation of consumption expenditure by the older population among different categories of goods and services, and how expenditure patterns change with age within that population. Of particular interest is whether observed differences between pre-retirement and...

A pilot study was undertaken in Newfoundland and Labrador to determine whether provision of a real-time feedback device is sufficient to provide residential customers with the information needed to reduce their electricity consumption. A panel based econometric methodology, which controlled for...

Methods for time series modeling of mortality and stochastic forecasting of life expectancies are explored, using Canadian data. Consideration is given first to alternative indexes of aggregate mortality. Age-sex group system models are then estimated. Issues in the forecasting of life...

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who...

The effects of population change on requirements for physicians in Ontario are studied. Principal findings are the following: (a) contrary to popular belief, the overall increase in requirements will be significantly lower in 2000-2020 than in the preceding two decades; (b) population aging...

Price and quantity indexes are applied in the analysis of expenditure on physician services in the province of Ontario, Canada, using newly available data files for 1992 and 2004. Price indexes for such services are found to have increased less rapidly than indexes of general inflation and...

The use of a nonparametrically generated instrumental variable in estimating a single-equation linear parametric model is explored, using kernel and other smoothing functions. The method, termed IVOS (Instrumental Variables Obtained by Smoothing), is applied in the estimation of measurement...

Sixty-five has long been used to define the beginning of 'old age'. Yet it is clear that the definition is arbitrary, and with continuing reductions in mortality and morbidity rates it will become increasingly inappropriate as time passes. We consider how the definition might be modified to...

The effects of population aging on future health care costs are an important public policy concern in many countries. We focus in this paper on physician services and investigate how changes in the size and age distribution of a population can affect the aggregate and per capita costs of such...