Title: How Does Dementia Diagnosis Matter? Evidence on Health and Economic Well-Being Among Older Adults in the US
Speaker: Chen Xi, Ph.D. in Applied Economics from Cornell University, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Economics at Yale University
Host: Dr. Wang Tianyu, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Security, School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China
Date & Time: Thursday, October 31, 2024, 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Venue: Room 347, Qiushi Building

Speaker Bio
Chen Xi, Ph.D. in Applied Economics from Cornell University, is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Economics at Yale University. He extensively applies causal inference, machine learning and deep learning, and epidemiological methods to big healthcare data in China, the US, and Europe, assessing public policies related to population aging, life-cycle health, and global healthcare systems. Chen Xi has served as a consultant for the United Nations and the World Bank, a research fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Germany, and the head of the Environment and Human Capital Research Group at the Global Labor Organization. He is also the co-editor of the Journal of Population Economics, an international editorial board member for China CDC Weekly, a Butler-Williams Scholar and Claude D. Pepper Scholar at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and an external reviewer for both the U.S. National Science Foundation and NIH. He is a senior research fellow at Cornell’s Center for Health Economics and an adjunct professor at the Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development. Formerly, he was the president of the Chinese Health Policy and Management Society. His academic work has received awards such as the Kuznets Prize in population economics and the George F. Warren Prize in applied economic research. To date, his research has resulted in 129 publications in scientific, medical, and economic journals, gaining widespread global media coverage.

Lecture Overview
Following rapid global aging, the number of people living with dementia worldwide is projected to more than triple by 2050, particularly rising in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) where around two-thirds of people with dementia reside. Dementia impacts individuals, their families, and the economy, with global costs estimated to exceed $1 trillion annually. However, there remains no consensus on whether and to what extent (timely) dementia diagnoses should be implemented in healthcare systems. Using U.S. nationally representative longitudinal surveys and Medicare claims data, this study provides the latest comprehensive assessment of the health, healthcare, economic, and financial impacts of (timely) dementia diagnoses. Results show reduced patient mortality risk, improved financial decision-making, and better financial asset management, with no significant effect observed on medical spending. Potential mechanisms involve increased receipt of care but not improved disease management.