Can Pensions Save Lives? Evidence from the Introduction of Old-Age Assistance in the UK

We study the impact of old-age assistance on mortality
using the 1909 introduction of public pensions in the UK as a quasi-natural
experiment. Estimating difference-in-differences and an event-time design, we
show that elderly mortality in England and Wales declined with the pension
introduction. The estimated decline is economically relevant, stronger in
counties with more pensioners and driven by fewer deaths from both infectious
and non-infectious diseases. Analyzing full-count individual-level census data
points to a reduction in residential crowding and retirement, especially from
occupations associated with high mortality rates, as likely channels.