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A research report, “A survey of rural-urban migrants in Shenzhen, China”, based on findings from this project, was submitted to the Shenzhen government in December of 2005.  Since then, the Santa Fe Institute International Program, the Ministry of Education of China and the Treasury Department of China funded further research.  Dr.

The researchers developed models for the time course of the economic demography of remote Chinese villages that takes into account the migration, and sometimes return, of the villagers, the predicted remittances, the costs for maintenance of those remaining in the villages (mainly parents and children of the migrants), and the marriage squeeze on males, which is very pronounced in remote rural China. They constructed formal mathematical models that include the above-mentioned features, as well as the rate of migration (which is available from our data).

This project studied the patterns of health and health care disparities across elderly and non-elderly in China, including the impact of earlier educational and public health interventions on contemporary elderly.

The overall goal of this project was to estimate the relationship between the HIV epidemic in Africa and mortality patterns of Africa's elderly.  The lead investigator audited Professor Shripad Tuljapurkar's demography class to have a more nuanced understanding of the methods involved in mortality estimations.  He identified the data sources to be used in this project, and employed the services of a programmer at Stanford's Quantitative Sciences Unit, Jessica Kubo, to help with the data analysis.  They revised the proposed approach after they discovered a new source of data t

Urbanization and obesity-related chronic diseases are cited as threats to the future health of India's older citizens. With 50% of deaths in adult Indians currently due to chronic diseases, the relationship of urbanization and migration trends to obesity patterns have important population health implications for older Indians. The researchers constructed and calibrated a set of 21 microsimulation models of weight and height of Indian adults. The models separately represented current urban and rural populations of India's major states and were further stratified by sex.

 This seed grant aimed to verify the ages of elderly individuals in a sample of Khomani San “Bushmen” from South Africa. With verified data, the researchers then aim to identify genetic loci associated with longevity in their sample. In November 2011, the researchers returned to South Africa and conducted follow-up interviews with 60 subjects; additionally they were able to enroll 41 new subjects in the study for a total of 101 subjects. They confirmed that half of their sample exceeded 50 years of age (up to age 98).

The aims of this seed were to 1) assemble a longitudinal dataset by collecting information on individuals’ exercise patterns in the post-commitment contract period, as data on their demographics, randomization to contract duration suggestions, contract choices, and exercise patterns during their contracts have previously been collected, and 2) assess whether longer commitment contracts and consequently more exercise during the contract period increases the formation of exercise habits in the post-contract period and whether this effect is differential in older adults who face more immediate