Espen Berthung

Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her! / The doctoral thesis is available here!

Auditoriet er åpent for publikum, men vil også bli strømmet / The auditorium is open to the public. The defense will still be streamed.
Opptak av disputasen vil være tilgjengelig i et døgn. / A recording of the disputation will be available for 24 hours.        


Prøveforelesning over oppgitt emne starter kl. 10.15 / The trial lecture starts at 10.15
Tittel/Title:  "Hvordan påvirker helsen inntekt - og motsatt?"
Prøveforelesningen strømmes her / The trial lecture will be streamed here

Disputasen starter kl. 12.15 / The defense starts at 12.15
Disputasen strømmes her / The defense will be streamed here


Populærvitenskapelig sammendrag av avhandlingen/ Summary of the thesis

‘Good health for all’ and ‘employment for all’ are two widely agreed-upon goals in Norwegian politics. Nevertheless, considerable inequalities in health exist, and the economic sustainability of public pensions is pressured by a substantial increase in life expectancy. Improving our understanding of inequalities in health and the relationship between health detriments and labour market participation (LMP) can help policymakers identify where and how policy strategies should be implemented. Subsequently, this can improve individuals’ health and make society more economically sustainable in transitioning to longer working life. 
This thesis aims to improve our knowledge of inequalities in health and the relationship between health detriments and individuals’ LMP. More specifically, this thesis investigates the effects of parental health, childhood financial conditions, and own education on individuals’ adult health. Moreover, the thesis investigates the relative importance of these three sets of variables for individuals’ health. Furthermore, this thesis compares the impact of three different health detriments on individuals’ LMP. Proxies for health detriments are stroke, heart attack, and three cancer severity levels. In addition, it investigates if there exists heterogeneity in the impacts by education. Finally, this thesis investigates if individuals’ resilience moderates the effect of health shocks on individuals’ LMP.
I find that parental health, childhood financial circumstances (CFC), and individuals’ education creates lasting inequalities in health. Furthermore, individuals’ education and CFC have similar magnitudes, i.e., the gaps between the top and bottom levels in the CFC variable and individuals’ education are approximately the same. In addition, I find that parental health and CFC are each as important for their health as own education. Moreover, I find that cancer with a poor survival prognosis leads to the greatest reduction in LMP, followed by stroke, cancer with an intermediate survival prognosis, acute heart attack, and cancer with a good survival prognosis. In addition, the negative impact of cancer is greater among lower-educated individuals. However, I did not find that individuals’ resilience moderated the impact created by health shocks.

Veiledere/ Supervisors:
Hovedveileder/Main supervisor:
Professor Jan Abel Olsen, Institutt for samfunnsmedisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.
Biveiledere/supervisors:
Professor Birgit Abelsen, Institutt for samfunnsmedisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.
Professor Nils Gutacker, Centre for Health Economics, University of York

Bedømmelseskomité/Defensecomitee:
Professor Lina Maria Ellegård, Faculty of Business, Kristianstad University, Researcher at the Department of Economics, Lund University  – 1. opponent.
Professor Egil Kjerstad, Institutt for økonomi, Universitetet i Bergen og NORCE – 2. opponent.
Professor Hans Olav Melberg, Institutt for samfunnsmedisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet – leder av komité.

Disputasleder/ Leader of defense:
Professor Tormod Brenn, Institutt for samfunnsmedisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.