Harvard researcher to lecture on ‘health and wealth’ Dec. 20 in the Memorial Union
Most people are familiar with the stress that comes with making decisions on household finances, paying off debt or saving for retirement. But the affects of dealing with such financial stressors can also have an impact on one’s emotional and even physical health.
Well-being related to individual and household financial situations will be the subject of a lecture presented by Piotr Bialowolski, a researcher with the Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Bialowolski is scheduled to present his lecture on the Kingston campus Friday, Dec. 20 at 11 a.m. in Room 308 of the Memorial Union.
Bialowolski will present results of four studies he has conducted, including a composite index for the measurement of household financial conditions; the consequences of arrears and impact of different coping strategies on household satisfaction measures; the well-being impact of carry trade (borrowing to invest); and the impact of decisions related to debt and savings on physical health, emotional health and health behaviors.
“Responses to arrears, if representing likely long-term solutions, did not signify further deterioration in self-reported well-being measures,” Bialowolski said. “However, if arrears required resorting to bank credit, disposal of household valuables or borrowing from family and friends, satisfaction with the household financial situation and household head life satisfaction were likely to suffer more.”
Bialowolski’s research interest is in applied economics and quantitative methods for economic research. His research interests and publications focus on application of micro-level data for the impact evaluation of financial and social behavior on well-being and health of populations; market and consumer segmentations for accounting for biases and forecasting; statistical indicators for management effectiveness; and survey design, biases and forecasting with survey data. He aims to improve understanding of well-being in the financial context, and he is involved in measuring the impact of occupational well-being on health.
The lecture is being sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, part of the College of Health Sciences. It free and open to the campus community.