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.In 2017, the CEPRA and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the American leading economic research organization, organized the first US-European workshop on 'Aging and Health' (Lugano, June 2-3 2017), which has become the key event for the CEPRA and for the department of Economics (IdEP). The first edition was very successful, with top scholars from both the US and Europe participating. This encouraged us to organize the second edition of the workshop, which was held in Munich at the Munich Center of Economics of Aging (MEA) in 2018. The third edition is again planned to take place in Lugano this year.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 elder shares to rise throughout the world, especially in developed economies. The population aged 65 and over 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. Among the topics of investigation, we can include: trends in health and disability, health care costs and productivity, implications of health-related policy reform, possibilities for extending working lives, work and retirement patterns around the world, health and financial wellbeing.In order to achieve its goals and 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 12 plus discussants.The conference has rapidly become quite popular as evidenced by the more than60 applications we received by the deadline of the call for papers (December 2, 2018).The participation constraint and the high selection standards represent a commitment towards high-impact research and a unique opportunity to establish networks and share ideas with other scholars and researchers. The faculty at IdEP is a respected contributor in the international academic community in both the field of health and public economics, with the faculty 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 aforementioned academic community, conducting research on the core themes of the workshop. Some of Prof. Mazzonna's recent papers have been published in journals such as Journal of Health Economics, Demography, Health Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Population Economics, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. For a list of publications I kindly refer you to the attached CV and Prof Mazzonna's personal website.