Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the fundamental causes of disparities in health status among individuals over the life cycle. This research focuses on the relationship between SES and health, and how non-contributory pension programs can help improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable older adults. I will present the results of a non-contributory pension program implemented with experimental methods in Yucatan, Mexico. We find that non-contributory pension programs for poor older adults improve their health and well-being in the short term. We find that the pathway mechanisms for the improvements in health are different for women and men. Finally, we find that the frequency of disbursement matters. Paychecks distributed monthly rather than every two months (as done for most poverty alleviation programs) result in greater improvements for health outcomes, health care utilization, and food availability for older adults. Monthly payments also help recipients better smooth their consumption over time.