CEPRA-NBER workshop on aging and health

The Center for Economic and Political Research on Aging (CEPRA) is an international center established at USI in 2012 within the department of Economics (IdEP). The center has the goal of promoting policy debate and scientific research on aging, pension and health care issues.

Since 2017 the CEPRA and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the American leading economic research organization, have started a collaboration for a workshop on "Aging and Health" meant to facilitate the networking of both young and senior scientists and to promote the exchange of research ideas in the economics of aging, health and health care, especially among US and European-based scholars. The huge success of the first edition has encouraged us to organize it regularly (odd years in Lugano and even years in Munich). After two year break because of the pandemic, we organized in April 2022 a special workshop in Lugano with a focus on "Aging, Cognitive Ability and Decision-making", and the regular workshop in Munich later in June.

This workshop represents the key event for CEPRA and for our department. Since its first edition, the workshop has hosted top scholars from both the US and Europe and many of the papers presented in Lugano have been then published in some of the most prestigious journals in economics (e.g., American Economic Review, Quarterly Journals of Economics, Econometrics, Journal of Political Economy).

This year we received more than 60 applications from some of the best universities in the world by the deadline of the call for papers (January 15, 2023). To provide a conducive environment for the exchange of ideas, this workshop is traditionally smaller than other large-scale conferences. So, we do limit the number of presenters to 10 plus discussants. The participation constraint, the high selection standards, and the curricula of the accepted participants represent a commitment towards high-impact research and a unique opportunity to establish networks and share ideas with other scholars and researchers.

This conference is also a unique opportunity for Lugano and Switzerland to stimulate academic research concerning topics of common interest, which are at the center of the economic and political debate. Declining fertility, increasing longevity, and the progression of the baby-boom cohorts to the older ages are causing elderly shares to rise throughout the world, especially in developed economies. The population aged 65+ is growing rapidly and economic research on aging and health issues has never been more important. This workshop, in fact, aims at deepening the knowledge about the economic and health implications of the observed demographic shift. In this new edition, we will also investigate the roots of the widening health disparities across education, region, race and gender and the potential policy intervention.

The faculty at IdEP is a respected contributor in the international academic community in both health and public economics, with its members publishing in the top journals of these important fields. For USI in general and IdEP in particular, this conference provides a true opportunity to maintain its strong ties with the international academic communities of health economics and the economics of aging.

The applicant Prof. Mazzonna is an active and established contributor in the aforementioned academic community, conducting research on the core themes of the workshop. Some of Prof. Mazzonna's recent papers have been published in top field and general audience journals. For a list of publications, I kindly refer you to the attached CV and Prof Mazzonna's personal website.