Robert J. Willis
Research Professor Emeritus/A, SRC-HRS
- rjwillis@umich.edu
- 734-936-7261
- 3480 ISR-Thompson
- CV (PDF)
BIO
Robert Willis has made important contributions to research in labor economics and the economics of fertility and the family. He is currently conducting research on out-of-wedlock childbearing and intergenerational transfers in Asia and the United States. Dr. Willis is past Director of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).
- Assessing the interactive effect of lifetime and old age cognitive engagement on cognitive decline and dementia: cognitive reserve versus use it or lose it. (Gabor Kezdi, Robert J. Willis, Kenneth M. Langa, Brooke Helppie-McFall, Amanda J. Sonnega) 2020-2024. NIA.
- Labor Demand Aspects of Working Longer - A Pilot Study using an Employer-employee Survey in the ALP. (Brooke Helppie-McFall, Robert J. Willis) 2018-2018. Sloan.
- HRS Yrs 29-34. (David R. Weir, Kenneth M. Langa, Mary B. Ofstedal, Joelle Hillary Abramowitz, Charles C. Brown, Helen G. Levy, Mick P. Couper, Chichun Fang, Jessica D. Faul, Steven G. Heeringa, Sharon R. Kardia, Sunghee Lee, Lindsay H. Ryan, Jacqui Smith, Jennifer A. Smith, Amanda J. Sonnega, Erin B. Ware, Robert J. Willis, Gabor Kezdi) 2018-2023.
- Enhancing Retrospective Life History Data in the Health and Retirement Study: Administrative Supplement. (Jacqui Smith, Robert J. Willis, Amanda J. Sonnega, Brooke Helppie-McFall) 2017-2019. NIA.
- The Cognitive Demands of Work and the Length of Working Life: The Case of Computerization. (Robert J. Willis) 2016-2017. Sloan, Alfred P., Foundation.
- University of Michigan Retirement Research Center 2013-2018. (John P. Laitner, Dmitriy L. Stolyarov, Robert F. Schoeni, Frank P. Stafford, John Bound, Arline T. Geronimus, David R. Weir, Robert J. Willis) 2013-2018. Social Security Administration.
- Health and Retirement Study Yrs 23-28. (David R. Weir, Kenneth M. Langa, Mary B. Ofstedal, Charles C. Brown, Sharon R. Kardia, Helen G. Levy, Jacqui Smith, Robert J. Willis, Jessica D. Faul, Steven G. Heeringa, John Bound, Mick P. Couper, Sunghee Lee, Richard L. Valliant, Amanda J. Sonnega, Chichun Fang, Lindsay H. Ryan, Brooke Helppie-McFall, Bruno J. Giordani, Lauren L. Schmitz, Jennifer A. Smith, Joelle Hillary Abramowitz, Colter M. Mitchell) 2012-2017. NIA.
- Carr, Dawn C., Robert J. Willis, Ben Lennox Kail, and Laura L. Carstensen. 2020. "Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity." The Gerontologist 60(3): 460-471.
- Sonnega, Amanda J., Brooke Helppie-McFall, Peter Hudomiet, Robert J. Willis, and Gwenith G. Fisher. 2017. "A Comparison of Subjective and Objective Job Demands and Fit With Personal Resources as Predictors of Retirement Timing in a National U.S. Sample." Work, Aging and Retirement 4(1): 37-51.
- Helppie-McFall, Brooke, Marta Murray-Close, Robert J. Willis, and Uniko Chen. 2015. "Is It All Worth It? The Experiences of New PhDs on the Job Market, 2007-10." The Journal of Economic Education 46(1): 83-104.
- Kezdi, Gabor, and Robert J. Willis. 2014. "Expectations, Aging and Cognitive Decline." Pp. 305-337 in Discoveries in the Economics of Aging, edited by Wise, David A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Hsu, Joanne W., and Robert J. Willis. 2013. "Dementia Risk and Financial Decision Making by Older Households: The Impact of Information." Journal of Human Capital 7(4): 340-377.
- Hudomiet, Peter, and Robert J. Willis. 2013. "Estimating Second Order Probability Beliefs from Subjective Survival Data." Decision Analysis 10(2): 152-170.
- Parker, Andrew M., Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Joanne Yoong, and Robert J. Willis. 2012. "Inappropriate Confidence and Retirement Planning: Four Studies with a National Sample." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 25(4): 382-389.
- Willis, Robert J., and Gwenith G. Fisher. 2012. "Research Methods in Retirement Research." in The Oxford Handbook of Retirement, edited by Wang, Mo. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Hudomiet, Peter, Gabor Kezdi, and Robert J. Willis. 2011. "Stock market crash and expectations of American households." Journal of Applied Econometrics 26(3): 393-415.
- Rohwedder, Susann, and Robert J. Willis. 2010. "Mental Retirement." Journal of Economic Perspectives 24(1): 119-38.
- Smith, James P., John J. McArdle, and Robert J. Willis. 2010. "Financial Decision Making and Cognition in a Family Context." The Economic Journal 120(548): F363-F380.
- Willis, Robert J. 2009. "Lifecycle asset allocation strategies and the distribution of 401(k) retirement wealth: Comment." 50 pages in Developments in the economics of aging, edited by Wise, David A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Plassman, B., Willard L. Rodgers, James F. Burke, Steven G. Heeringa, Mary B. Ofstedal, Kenneth M. Langa, David R. Weir, Robert J. Willis, et al. 2008. "Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment without Dementia in the United States." Annals of Internal Medicine 148(6): 427-434.
- Willis, Robert J. 2008. "Ageing in the U.S.: The Health and Retirement Study." 47 pages in Social protection in an ageing world, edited by Kemp, Peter, Smith, Lindsey, van den Bosch, Karel. Antwerp ; Portland: Intersentia.
- Willis, Robert J. 2008. "Interpreting norms of obligation as planner's preferences for distributional justice : a formal economic model." 341 pages in Intergenerational caregiving, edited by Booth, Alan, Crouter, Ann G., Bianchi, S., Seltzer, J. A. Washington, D.C: Urban Institute Press.
- Brien, M., and Robert J. Willis. 2008. "Costs and Consequences for the Fathers." in Kids having kids: economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy, edited by Hoffman, Saul D., Maynard, Rebecca A. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.
- Plassman, B. L., Willard L. Rodgers, James F. Burke, Steven G. Heeringa, Mary B. Ofstedal, Kenneth M. Langa, David R. Weir, Robert J. Willis, et al. 2007. "Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study." Neuroepidemiology 29(1/2): 125-132.
- Langa, Kenneth M., Nancy Fultz, Willard L. Rodgers, Anna R. Herzog, James F. Burke, Steven G. Heeringa, Mary B. Ofstedal, David R. Weir, et al. 2005. "The aging, demographics, and memory study: Study design and methods." Neuroepidemiology 25(4): 181-191.
- McFadden, Daniel L., Robert J. Willis, Norbert W. Schwarz, A. C. Bemmaor, F. G. Caro, J. Dominitz, B. H. Jun, A. Lewbel, et al. 2005. "Statistical analysis of choice experiments and surveys." Marketing Letters 16(3/4): 183-196.
- Willis, Robert J. 2005. "Individual Subjective Survival Curves: Comment." Pp. 402-411 in Analyses in the Economics of Aging, edited by Wise, David A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Willis, Robert J. 2005. "Utility Evaluation of Risk in Retirement Saving Accounts: Comment." Pp. 53-57 in Analyses in the Economics of Aging, edited by Wise, David A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Willis, Robert J., and Robert Mason Hauser. 2005. "Two voyages underway: Survey design and methodology in the Health and Retirement Study and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study." Population and Development Review 30(Supplement).
- Herzog, Anna R., Robert J. Willis, and David R. Weir. 2004. "Research on aging." in A Telescope on Society: Survey Research and Social Science at the University of Michigan and Beyond, edited by House, James S., Juster, F. Thomas, Kahn, Robert L., Schuman, Howard, Singer, Eleanor L. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Langa, Kenneth M., E. B. Larsen, Robert B. Wallace, A. Mark Fendrick, Norman L. Foster, Mohammed U. Kabeto, David R. Weir, and Robert J. Willis. 2004. "Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditures Among Older Americans With Dementia." Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders 18(2): 90-98.
- Sevak, Purvi, David R. Weir, and Robert J. Willis. 2004. "The Economic Consequence of a Husband's Death: Evidence from HRS and AHEAD." Social Security Bulletin 65(3): 31-44.
- Willis, Robert J. 2004. "Child Support and the Problem of Economic Incentives." Pp. 31-59 in The law and economics of child support payments, edited by Comanor, William S. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, Mass.: Elgar.
- Willis, Robert J., and Sherwin Rosen. 2004. "Education and Self-Selection." Pp. 170-204 in Markets and diversity, edited by Rosen, Sherwin. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
- Lillard, Lee A., and Robert J. Willis. 2003. "Dynamic Aspects of Earning Mobility." in The economics of poverty and inequality, edited by Cowell, Frank A. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, Mass: Elgar.
- Willis, Robert J. 2003. "Microeconomics of demographic behavior." Pp. 632-637 in Encyclopedia of Population, edited by Demeny, Paul, McNicoll, Geoffrey. Macmillan Reference USA.
- Willis, Robert J., and Sherwin Rosen. 2003. "Education and Self-Selection." Pp. 73-102 in The economics of schooling and school quality, edited by Hanushek, Eric A. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, Mass.: Elgar.
- Frankenberg, Elizabeth, Lee A. Lillard, and Robert J. Willis. 2002. "Patterns of Intergenerational Transfers in Southeast Asia." Journal of Marriage and the Family 64(3): 627-641.
- Langa, Kenneth M., Anna R. Herzog, Norman L. Foster, David R. Weir, Mohammed U. Kabeto, Robert J. Willis, and A. Mark Fendrick. 2002. "Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditures Among Elderly Individuals With Dementia in the US." Neurobiology of Aging 23(1): S45.
- Langa, Kenneth M., Rodney A. Hayward, David R. Weir, Robert J. Willis, Sandeep Vijan, Michael Chernew, Caroline S. Blaum, Mohammed U. Kabeto, an, et al. 2002. "Informal Caregiving for Diabetes and Diabetic Complications Among Elderly Americans." Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 57(3): S177-S186.
- Traugott, Michael W., F. Thomas Juster, Martha Scott Hill, Robert M. Groves, Beth-Ellen Pennell, David Featherman, Donald R. Kinder, David R. Weir, et al. 2002. "How Americans Responded: A Study of Public Reactions to 9/11/01." PS-Political Science & Politics 35(3): 511-516.
- Langa, Kenneth M., Michael Chernew, Anna R. Herzog, Mary B. Ofstedal, Robert J. Willis, Robert B. Wallace, L. M. Mucha, and W. L. Straus. 2001. "National Estimates of the Quantity and Cost of Informal Caregiving for the Elderly with Dementia." Journal of General Internal Medicine 16(11): 770-778.
- Willis, Robert J. 2001. "How Does a Community's Demographic Composition Alter Its Fiscal Burdens? Comment." Pp. 155-158 in Demographic change and fiscal policy, edited by Auerbach, Alan J., Lee, Ronald D. Cambridge; New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- Willis, Robert J., and Daniel H. Hill. 2001. "Reducing Panel Attrition: A Search for Effective Policy Instruments." Journal of Human Resources 36(3): 416-438.
- Willis, Robert J., and Maxine Weinstein. 2001. "Stretching Social Surveys to Include Bioindicators: Possibilities for The Health and Retirement Study, Experience from The Taiwan Study of the Elderly." in Cells and Surveys: Should Biological Measures be Included In Social Research?, edited by Finch, C. E., Vaupel, J. W., Kinsella, K. Washington DC : National Academy Press.
- Weir, David R., and Robert J. Willis. 2000. "Prospects for Widow Poverty." Pp. 208-234 in Forecasting retirement needs and retirement wealth, edited by Mitchell, Olivia S., Hammond, P. Brett, Rappaport, Anna M. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Willis, Robert J. 2000. "The Economics of Fatherhood." American Economic Review 90(2): 378-382.
- Smith, James P., and Robert J. Willis. 1999. "Wealth, work, and health: Innovations in measurement in the social sciences: Essays in honor of F. Thomas Juster." Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Willis, Robert J. 1999. "A Theory of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing." Journal of Political Economy 107(6): S33-64.
- Willis, Robert J. 1999. "Theory Confronts Data: How the HRS Is Shaped by the Economics of Aging and How the Economics of Aging Will Be Shaped by the HRS." Labour Economics 6(2): 119-145.
- Wray, Linda, Anna R. Herzog, Robert J. Willis, and Robert B. Wallace. 1998. "The impact of education and heart attack on smoking cessation among middle-aged adults." Journal of health & social behavior 39(4): 271-294. American Sociological Association.
- Lillard, Lee A., and Robert J. Willis. 1997. "Motives for Intergenerational Transfers: Evidence from Malaysia." Demography 34 (1): 115-134.
- Weiss, Yoram, and Robert J. Willis. 1997. "Match Quality, New Information, and Marital Dissolution." Journal of Labor Economics 15 (1) pt. 2: S293-S329.
- Willis, Robert J. 1997. "A New Approach to the Economic Theory of Fertility Behavior." Pp. 485-538 in The economics of population: Key modern writings, edited by Simon, Julian L. Cheltenham, U.K. and Lyme, N.H.: Elgar.
- Willis, Robert J., and Michael J. Brien. 1997. "The partners of welfare mothers: Earnings and child support potential." Future of Children 7(1): 65-73.
- Willis, Robert J., and Michael J. Brien. 1996. "The costs and consequences of early fatherhood: The impact on young men, young women and their children." in Kids having kids: Economic costs and Social consequences of teen pregnancy, edited by Maynard, Rebecca. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.
- Willis, Robert J., and John G. Haaga. 1996. "Economic Approaches to Understanding Nonmarital Fertility." Population and Development Review 22(0): 67-86.
- Parish, William L., and Robert J. Willis. 1995. "Daughters, Education, and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences." Pp. 239-272 in Investment in women's human capital, edited by Schultz, Paul T. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
- Lee, Yean-Ju, William L. Parish, and Robert J. Willis. 1994. "Sons, daughters, and intergenerational support in Taiwan." American Journal of Sociology 99: p1010(32). University of Chicago Press.
- Lillard, Lee A., and Robert J. Willis. 1994. "Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Effects of Family and State in Malaysia." Journal of Human Resources 29(4): 1126-1166.
- Parish, William L., and Robert J. Willis. 1993. "Daughters, Education, and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences." Journal of Human Resources 28(4): 863-898.
- Weiss, Yoram, and Robert J. Willis. 1993. "Transfers among Divorced Couples: Evidence and Interpretation." Journal of Labor Economics 11(4): 629-679.
- Willis, Robert J. 1988. "Life Cycles, Institutions, and Population Growth: A Theory of the Equilibrium Interest Rate in an Overlapping Generations Model." Pp. 106-38. in Economics of changing age distributions in developed countries, edited by Lee, Ronald D., Arthur, W. Brian, Rodgers, Gerry. Oxford; New York; Toronto and Melbourne: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press.
- Willis, Robert J. 1987. "What Have We Learned from the Economics of the Family?" American Economic Review 77(2): 68-81.
- Willis, Robert J. 1987. "Externalities and Population." Pp. 661-702 in Population growth and economic development: Issues and evidence, edited by Johnson, D. Gale, Lee, Ronald D. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Willis, Robert J. 1986. "Wage Determinants: A Survey and Reinterpretation of Human Capital Earnings Functions." Pp. 525-602 in Handbook of labor economics, edited by Ashenfelter, Orley C., Layard, Richard. Amsterdam; Oxford and Tokyo: North-Holland; distributed in North America by Elsevier Science, New York.
- Weiss, Yoram, and Robert J. Willis. 1985. "Children as Collective Goods and Divorce Settlements." Journal of Labor Economics 3(3): 268-292.
- Willis, Robert J. 1982. "The Direction of Intergenerational Transfers and Demographic Transition: The Caldwell Hypothesis Reexamined." Population and Development Review 8(0): 207-234.
- Heckman, James J., and Robert J. Willis. 1979. "Reply to Mincer and Ofek [The Distribution of Lifetime Labor Force Participation of Married Women]." Journal of Political Economy 87(1): 203-211.
- James, Estelle, Egon Neuberger, and Robert J. Willis. 1979. "On Managerial Rewards and Self-Selection: Risk Taking in Public Enterprises: A Comment on A. Bergson, "Managerial Risks and Rewards in Public Enterprises"." Journal of Comparative Economics 3(4): 395-406.
- Lillard, Lee A., and Robert J. Willis. 1978. "Dynamic Aspects of Earning Mobility." Econometrica 46(5): 985-1012.
- Heckman, James J., and Robert J. Willis. 1977. "A Beta-logistic Model for the Analysis of Sequential Labor Force Participation by Married Women." Journal of Political Economy 85(1): 27-58.
- Willis, Robert J. 1973. "A New Approach to the Economic Theory of Fertility Behavior." Journal of Political Economy 81(2): S14-64.
- Job mobility in your 50s? Study by Sonnega, McFall and Willis says sure.
- How employers, the government, and older people can help keep Americans age 65-plus in the workforce
- Sonnega, McFall and Willis examine Americans' job changes after age 55
- Willis on job complexity and "mental retirement": Sept 29, 12-1pm, 6080 ISR
- McFall, Sonnega, Willis, and Hudomiet link job characteristics and retirement decisions
- Brooke McFall, Amanda Sonnega, Robert Willis, and Peter Hudomiet examine compositional changes in jobs held by older workers
- Willis finds those who stay on the job after age 60 stay sharper than early retirees
- Susann Rohwedder and Robert Willis find those who stay on the job after age 60 stay sharper than early retireess
- Bob Willis awarded 2015 Jacob Mincer Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Field of Labor Economics
- Richard Hodes, Ronald Lee, Robert Willis and Susann Rohwedder cited on how increasing life span impacts retirement
- Willis and Rohwedder's report on retirement and cognition cited in NYT
- Work by Susann Rohwedder and Robert Willis on retirement and cognition cited in NYT
- Willis and Hsu find dementia impacts financial decision making among Americans over 50
- Willis (Michigan) and Joanne Hsu find dementia impacts financial decision making among Americans over 50
- Willis finds handing over family finances to husbands weak in numeracy skills is costly
- Willis and colleagues find link between numeracy skills and family wealth
- Willis discusses link between retirement and memory
- Willis notes importance of comparable datasets to study of elderly cognition worldwide
