Socio-economic Conditions

The article says associations between socio-economic context and lifespan patterns cannot prove causal effects. Country-specific anomalies are interpreted as evidence that maximum lifespan is sensitive to socio-economic and political conditions. Environmental and institutional conditions are presented as affecting survival prospects among the oldest old. The paper examines whether maximum lifespan increases depend on socio-economic capacity. The implications section calls for decomposing socio-economic variables such as public health investment and wealth redistribution.