WORKSHOP: Mortality and life expectancy in post-communist countries. What are the lessons for other countries?

The unprecedented development of the recent years – stagnation and even decline of life expectancy in high-income nations. In the US there was a decline in life expectancy in 2014-15 by 0.1 years, and then another decline by 0.1 years from 2015 to 2016. Moreover, there has been a rise in age-adjusted mortality for the white non-Hispanic working age population and a marked increase in the mortality of middle-aged white non-Hispanics in the US after 1998 in all 5-year age groups from 30 to 55.
The leading immediate causes for increased mortality were poisoning, suicide, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis. There are studies that link these phenomena to the deterioration of relative social and economic conditions of large groups of the population (such as less educated non-Hispanic whites in the US), to psychological stress due to a loss of social status, social dynamism, and life perspective.
The mortality crisis in post-communist economies of Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union in the 1990s was caused by he similar developments (stress associated with the transition to the market and the decline in social status for large groups of the population). The analysis of this causes and mechanisms of this mortality crisis in post-communist countries can shed light on the current unfavorable health status developments in high income countries.
Date and time: October 22, 14:00 – 19:00
Location: DOC RI Moscow office (Pokrovka str., 42, build. 5)
14:00 – 15:30 | I. SESSION |
INTRODUCTION
Vladimir Yakunin, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute Vladimir Popov, Research Director, Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute ‘Mortality and life expectancy in post-communist countries: What are the lessons for other countries? A concept note for a new DOC research project’ Discussion |
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Giovanni Cornia, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Management (formerly Faculty of Economics), at the University of Florence: ‘Historical antecedents of mortality crises triggered by potentially favourable political and economic changes’, ‘Life expectancy during transition to the market economy and liberal democracy of the former socialist countries of Europe (1989-2014)’
Discussion |
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15:30 – 16:00 | COFFEE BREAK |
16:00 – 19:00 | II. SESSION |
Roberto De Vogli, Associate Professor, Department of Development and Social Psychology and Human Rights Centre, at the University of Padua; Honorary Senior Lecturer, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, at the University College London: ‘Health in times of socio-economic and political change: lessons from Greece, Italy, United States and United Kingdom’
Discussion |
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Luca Bortolotti, PhD in Development Economics, School of Social Sciences at the University of Trento and Lecturer at the Department of Economics and Management, the University of Florence; Yue Teng, PhD in development economics at the University of Trento and the University of Florence, ‘The Path of Economic Growth and Health Status: Evidence from China’ | |
Li Ling, Mulan Chair Professor of Economics, Doctoral Supervisor, National School of Development, Peking University; Chief Advisor on China Health Care Reform, World Bank; Chief Committee Member of Policy and Management Research, Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China, commentary on ‘The Path of Economic Growth and Health Status: Evidence from China’
Discussion |
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Vladimir Popov, Research Director, Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute: ‘Mortality Crisis in Russia Revisited: Evidence from Cross-Regional Comparison’ (MPRA Paper No. 21311, March 2010; CEFIR and NES working paper #157, January 2011)
Discussion |
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C.P. Chandrasekhar, Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi, India: ‘Policy reform from the early 1990s and changes in health status in India (1991-2016)’
Discussion |
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Sebastian Vollmer, Professor of Development Economics, Department of Economics & Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) at the University of Göttingen; Nana Khetsuriani, Research Assistant, Department of Economics & Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) at the University of Göttingen; Paulina Kellersmann, Student Assistant, Department of Economics & Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) at the University of Göttingen: ‘Mortality patterns in post-Soviet Georgia’
Discussion |