Center Description

John Bound, Robert Schoeni, and Mary Beth Ofstedal, Co-directors

The Michigan P30 Center on the Demography of Aging is a joint program of the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Funding is provided by the Behavioral and Social Research (BSR) Program of the U.S. National Institute on Aging. The goal is to spur new research on the economics and demography of aging and encourage use of major datasets in the field.

Michigan has a large number of researchers and projects in the demography of aging. It is also home to major longitudinal surveys used for research on aging, including the Health and Retirement Study (HRS/AHEAD), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and Americans' Changing Lives Study (ACLS). The P30 Center focuses on the following scientific themes and approaches: health, work and retirement; interactions between health and economic status over time; health and economic status of diverse racial and ethnic populations; biodemography of aging; demography and economics of dementia; cohort analyses of current and future retirees; comparative international research; and the value of linked data and methods for ensuring confidentiality in research.

The Center is organized by cores:

Administration (Core A) provides administrative and research support built around the Director, Co-Director, Advisory Committee, administrative support staff, a computing specialist, and a data management specialist.

Pilot Projects/Faculty Development (Core B) supports new program development, including pilot projects and support for faculty development through both recruitment and the expansion of aging activity among existing faculty.

External Networks (Core C) operates 7 research networks with members around the world. Six networks have an international focus. One explores TRENDS in disability, primarily in the U.S.

Outreach (Core D) supports outreach and dissemination including web site development and publication series.

Statistical Data Enclave (Core E) supports an ambitious set of activities related to the analysis of restricted data, including the development of a statistical data enclave.

The National Institute on Aging supports 13 P30 Centers in the Demography of Aging. They are based at UC Berkeley, U Chicago, Harvard, U Michigan, NBER, N. Carolina, U Penn, Penn State, Princeton, RAND, Stanford, USC-UCLA, and U Wisconsin.