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A. Chalupka:
"A Review and Extension of the Health Deficit Model of Optimal Aging";
Supervisor: A. Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, M. Sánchez-Romero; Institut für Stochastik und Wirtschaftsmathematk - FB Ökonomie (E 105-03), 2019; final examination: 2019-06-18.

In economic modeling chronological age is often used as a measure for aging and
death. However, individuals of the same age can differ drastically in health status
and recent medical advancements have had a severe impact on the human life
span and health. In order to model the aging process as a life cycle model - the
health deficit model - developed by Dalgaard & Strulik (2014) is presented. The
model draws on recent research in the fields of biology and medicine and optimal
health spending determines the speed of aging and thus the time of death. In this
thesis, the life cycle model is extended to a general equilibrium model and a two
dimensional fixed point problem which characterizes the steady state is formulated.
The formulation of the steady state is only dependent on the steady state capital
and the optimal time of death. A graphical solution of the general equilibrium model
is presented and analyzed with comparative dynamics. With the help of parameter
variations both models are compared and it is shown that a longer lifespan can
be achieved in the general equilibrium model as long as the steady state capital is
below the exogenously given capital intensity employed in the life cycle model.