Pilot Awards
The annual Pilot project competition is jointly sponsored by the PSC, the Population Aging Research Center, and Boettner Center for Pension Retirement Research. The competition promotes high quality and innovative research in demography, economics, and related social and behavioral sciences. Pilot projects are funded for one year (or less) in duration and are selected through competitive peer review. A list of funded projects can be searched by typing in key words or the name of the PI, or sorted by the year the funding began.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia S. Mitchell, Daniel SacksAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Flavio CunhaAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Emilio ParradoAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Shane Tyler Jensen, Stephen H. ShoreAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Jeremy Tobacman, Anita MukherjeeAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Joseph Kable, Gal ZaubermanAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Chenoa FlippenAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hanming FangAward Dates: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia Mitchell, Kim, Hugh HoikwangAward Dates: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Irma Elo, Iliana KohlerAward Dates: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Samuel PrestonAward Dates: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Jason SchnittkerAward Dates: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Alexander M. GelberAward Dates: July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Petra ToddAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Emily HannumAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Claudia ValeggiaAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Ezekiel J. Dixon-RománAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Joelle Fong, Olivia MitchellAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Joseph Kable, Li-Wei ChaoAward Dates: July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2011
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Susan C. WatkinsAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To enhance the scientific value of the forthcoming 5th round of the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project (MDICP) by collecting data on the non-resident parents of respondents in the MDICP.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter Kohler, Stéphane HelleringerAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Betsey StevensonAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: The specific aim of this project is to understand how the widespread adoption of the new generation of anti-depressants known collectively as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors has affected labor market outcomes.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter Kohler, Beth SoldoAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To test the hypothesis that HIV-negative individuals living in a community of high HIV-AIDS prevalence have a greater risk of contracting the disease if their high-sensitivty C-Reactive Protein is elevated > 3.0mg/L; and to evaluate the overall health of some 1000 persons living in Balaka region in Northern Malawi.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia Mitchell, Timothy Jun LuAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Flavio CunhaAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Douglas C. EwbankAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To develop computer programs to put Framingham Study data into a format that can be read into the demographic programs; to revise the analysis programs to increase the speed with which they process the data; and to develop a mechanized approach to scanning the results and identifying SNPs that appear to be associated with longevity.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Irma T. EloAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To investigate the effects of early life socioeconomic status, place of birth, and household structure on cause-specific mortality and familial clustering of cause-specific mortality in Finland during the latter half of the Twentieth Century.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia Mitchell, Jose Luis RuizAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To analyze the empirical determinants of Chilean workers’ decision to annuitize at retirement or not.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Ram Cnaan, Steven MarcusAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009Aim: To determine whether or to what extent control beliefs differ by personal attributes; to determine whether or to what extent financial well-being differs by personal attributes; and to determine whether or to what extent control beliefs mediate the relationship between personal attributes and financial well-being.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Motohiro YogoAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Petra ToddAward Dates: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter Kohler, Stéphane HelleringerAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: The specific aims of this project include: Create the first large-scale complete-sexual-network study with detailed phylogenetic data in sub-Saharan Africa; Use the molecular-genotype data to establish chains of HIV infection; and investigate the impact of sexual network structures on the rate at which recombinant forms of the virus, dual infections as well as superinfections, emerge within a population.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hyunjoon ParkAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: To test two hypotheses using data from a nationally representative sample of 18,102 American adults (NAAL): 1) health literacy is positively associated with self-rated health for both men and women, net of various covariates; 2) the effect of health literacy on self-rated health increases by age for both men and women.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Aureo DePaulaAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: To examine how people's perceptions about local rates of infection, about their own or their spouse's HIV status, and their perceived risk of infection affects their behavior with regard to decisions to get tested for HIV, to engage in extramarital affairs, and to use barrier methods of contraception.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Kathryn JedrziewskiAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: To examine the relationship between physical activity and risk of Alzheimer's and other dementia, between physical activity and change in cognitive function from baseline to follow up, between dose of physical activity and risk of dementia as well as change in cognitive function; and to explore the effectiveness of various types of physical activity on cognitive health
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia MitchellAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: In the US, most employees offered defined contribution (DC) pension plans are provided a wide variety of investment options to chose from, when allocating their retirement saving portfolios. This study will investigate what happens when workers are offered a new type of investment option, namely, Life Cycle (LC) funds, which have been introduced in the last five years by pension plan sponsors.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Samuel H. Preston, Rachel MargolisAward Dates: July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008Aim: To investigate the extent to which the impact of childhood disease and nutrition on adult outcomes can be captured by the more commonly-available data on height and lower leg length.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Susan C. WatkinsAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To create the Malawi AIDS Research Database (MARD) to be housed at the College of Medicine (COM) at the University of Malawi, which will include (1) unpublished articles and reports that constitute the bulk of research on AIDS in Malawi; (2) links to published articles that are available without subscription on the Web; and (3) published articles accessible through the PSC Demography library.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia MitchellAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To evaluate the effect of Chile’s pension system rules and regulations on individuals’ contribution patterns.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Petra ToddAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Claudia ValeggiaAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Emily HannumAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Does Poor Health Induce Myopia? An Investigation of Mortality, Morbidity, Aging, and Time PreferencePrinicipal Investigator(s): Li-Wei ChaoAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To collect measures of health and time preference among a new sample of adults and elderly in peri-urban Durban, South Africa, with each age-stratum further divided into those who are healthy versus those who are not; to collect longitudinal measures of health and time preference among micro- and small-enterprise owners around Durban (also previously collected 2004); and to analyze relationships between health and the ‘individual discount rate’ and between changes in health and changes in the ‘individual discount rate.’
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Kevin VolppAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives in promoting weight loss among obese individuals and to use the difference in weight loss measured at 16 weeks to project the long-term cost-effectiveness if weight loss is sustained.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Stephen ShoreAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Alexander MuermannAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Kristen HarknettAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Jalpa DoshiAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To determine whether dual eligibles in states with higher copayments will have lower antidepressant use and adherence than those in states with lower or no copayments.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Sean P. ClarkeAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Irma T. EloAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To advance our understanding of variations in health status among native-born and foreign-born Hispanics, NH-Whites, African-origin populations, and Asian Americans, including sub-populations within these broad race/ethnic groups.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia MitchellAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To measure the efficiency shortfall patterns in pension plan menu offerings and to characterize these patterns according to employee and plan characteristics.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hyunjoon ParkAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To assess the variation in literacy skills among older adults, particular the literacy gap between those with high levels of formal educational attainment and those with low levels of educational attainment.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter KohlerAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To document mortality patterns in Bulgaria during 1992-98, providing the first reliable life tables and other mortality measures according to religion and ethnic group; and to analyze mortality differentials between Muslims and non-Muslims, focusing on the principal factors expected to account for lower Muslim mortality.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Barbara TurnerAward Dates: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007Aim: To evaluate the effect of attitudinal, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control/structural factors on achieving sustained blood pressure (BP) control in hypertensive elderly patients aged >70 and to examine the impact of functional status/comorbidities as barriers to control.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Alexander MuermannAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To examine the dynamic effects of price fluctuations on trading behavior when investors are averse toward anticipated regret.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Virginia W. ChangAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To determine the cross-sectional relationships between weight status and SES/class and conduct cross-cohort comparisons to evaluate secular shifts in the relationship over time.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Petra ToddAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To develop a behavioral model of decisions about schooling and work, prepare datasets, and do some preliminary data analysis.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Samuel H. PrestonAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To seek explanations of the recent poor performance of mortality among older women in the United States, relative both to older men and to women in previous eras.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter Kohler, Stéphane HelleringerAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To examine empirically the population-level structure of sexual networks and explore the role they may play in fostering the spread of HIV as well as in explaining the discrepancies observed between indicators of sexual behavior and epidemic outcomes.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter KohlerAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To apply existing and develop new models of intergenerational and inter vivos transfers to explain motivations for such transfers in a high HIV prevalance county and to investigate whether transfers differ by households that are and are not affected by AIDS
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Susan C. WatkinsAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To further the public dissemination of primary qualitative data to other researchers by using the Malawi project data to set a standard and by collaboration with ICPSR to promote the development of new software and/or technology to facilitate the process of anonymizing qualitative data.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Jere R. BehrmanAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To examine interactions among three generations in Guatemala using unusually rich longitudinal data over 35 years that will increase the research productivity of an existing project through added data collection that is not already funded by the existing project.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Stephen ShoreAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To exploit the panel feature of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to estimate income volatility directly for many individuals.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Kenneth I. WolpinAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To fill a gap by quantifying the effects of the policy change on the general health status, life expectancy, and medical care consumption of Medicare beneficiaries.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): José-Víctor Ríos-RullAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Hans-Peter Kohler, Li-Wei ChaoAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To uncover the motivations underlying transfers by examining transfers patterns derived from experimental economics games combined with data derived from survey and qualitative interviews
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Olivia MitchellAward Dates: July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2006Aim: To evaluate what Chileans do and do not know about their retirement system after two decades of the new program, and, to the extent that current participants and potential participants prove under- or mis-informed, to learn what aspects of the plan seem particularly difficult to fathom and what might be done to correct the lack of information and/or misinformation.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Douglas C. EwbankAward Dates: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005Aim: To demonstrate the pattern of change in the DSRS and the variation in progression rates among cases
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Etienne van de WalleAward Dates: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005Aim: To understand the relationship between both (a) the survival and (b) the co-residency of grandparents and their grandchildren’s mortality, based on the 1993 Gambia census.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Stephen ShoreAward Dates: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005Aim: To understand the impact of intra-household co-insurance consumption commitments and precautionary saving
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): José PagánAward Dates: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005Aim: To analyze the factors associated with the use of self-medication in Mexico using survey data on adults aged 50 and older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Herbert L. SmithAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Variations in rates of aging and in age distributions across local areas.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Daniel PolskyAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Causal links between health insurance, health, and labor force behavior using MHAS.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Rebecca Wong, Felicia Marie KnaulAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): John KnowlesAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Household decisions regarding savings, consumption, employment and health behavior over the life-cycle.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Iliana KohlerAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Health disparities among the elderly and old population by socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity in the US and Mexico.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Irma T. EloAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Educational and income inequality in all cause and cause-specific mortality by age and sex in Finland and the US.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): José-Víctor Ríos-RullAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Determinants of the living arrangements by constructing and estimating models where mothers and children make choices that bear in whether they live together or separate.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Robert BoruchAward Dates: July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004Aim: Pension regulatory and supervisory structure.
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Grace KaoAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Julie SochalskiAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Jerry JacobsAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Susan C. WatkinsAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2004
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Tukufu Zuberi, Amadou NoumbissiAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2004
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Iliana KohlerAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Judith A. LongAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003
-
Prinicipal Investigator(s): Irma EloAward Dates: July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003Aim: This study is designed to (1) extend previous analyses of trends in socioeconomic inequality in all cause and cause-specific mortality by age and sex in the United States, (2) investigate whether these trends have been similar among whites and African Americans, and (3) examine trends in the distribution of various risk factors, such as obesity and smoking, by socioeconomic status. The results of these analyses will help determine whether the documented increase in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality between 1960 and the 1980s has continued into the 1990s. The cause-specific investigations together with the analyses of trends in mortality risk factors by SES will point to areas where public health interventions might be most effective. The results will also provide input into further studies designed to illuminate the processes that link SES to health and mortality.