An empirical analysis on policies for middle-aged and elderly populations

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20160
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0107:Economics, business administration, and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Oikawa Masato 早稲田大学, 高等研究所, 講師(任期付) (30906714)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 健康診断 / 健康 / 健康投資行動 / 教育と健康 / 政策評価 / 高齢化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We analyzed the impact of the Specific Health Checkups and Specific Health Guidance (SHC-SHG) using two difference-in-differences (DID) approaches. (1) Since the checkup is mandatory only for salaried workers, their participation rate is notably higher than that of other workers, making them the most affected by the reform. A DID estimation is conducted with the salaried workers as the treatment group (TG) and self-employed workers as the control group (CG), and revealed changes in health behaviors and outcomes following the policy introduction, only among university graduates at a high health risk. (2) The SHC-SHG mandated municipalities to provide a standardized program. Municipalities with lower per capita expenses before 2008 increased their financial efforts on the checkups more than others. A DID estimation was conducted with municipalities with substantial expansions as the TG and others as the CG, and showed evidence of health improvement among the TG.

Free Research Field

医療経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

少子高齢化が進行する先進諸国・地域において、中高年者の健康を良好に保つような政策は財政負担を軽減させるために不可欠なものである。本研究は、健康診断・保健指導が、中高年者の健康を良好に保つ上で有用な手段である可能性を示す一方で、その効果に異質性があることも示した。健康診断・保健指導をより効果的に行うためには、誰にどのような介入を行うかといった、より細かいプログラム設定が必要だろう。健診プログラムに対する科学的根拠に基づくエビデンスが創出されたことは、重要な学術的・社会的貢献であるといえよう。