Research Professor Emeritus, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research and Professor Emeritus, Economics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Projects
Funded Research
Publications
- Willis,Robert J, Carr, Dawn C, Kail, Ben Lennox, Carstensen, Laura L. 2020. Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity. The Gerontologist 60(3):460-471.
- Sonnega,Amanda J, Willis,Robert J, Fisher,Gwenith Gwyn, Hudomiet, Peter . 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.
- Brooke Helppie-McFall, Willis,Robert J, Murray-Close, Marta , Chen, Uniko . 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.
- Willis,Robert J. 2014. Expectations, Aging and Cognitive Decline. Discoveries in the Economics of Aging :305-337.
- Willis,Robert J, Hsu, Joanne W. 2013. Dementia Risk and Financial Decision Making by Older Households: The Impact of Information. Journal of Human Capital 7(4):340-377.
- Willis,Robert J, Hudomiet, Peter . 2013. Estimating Second Order Probability Beliefs from Subjective Survival Data. Decision Analysis 10(2):152-170.
- Willis,Robert J, Fisher,Gwenith Gwyn. 2012. Research Methods in Retirement Research. The Oxford Handbook of Retirement Wang, Mo
- Willis,Robert J, Parker, Andrew M, de Bruin, Wändi Bruine, Yoong, Joanne . 2012. Inappropriate Confidence and Retirement Planning: Four Studies with a National Sample. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 25(4):382-389.
- Willis,Robert J, Hudomiet, Peter . 2011. Stock market crash and expectations of American households. Journal of Applied Econometrics 26(3):393-415.
- Willis,Robert J, Smith, James P, McArdle, John J. 2010. Financial Decision Making and Cognition in a Family Context. The Economic Journal 120(548):F363-F380.
- Willis,Robert J, Rohwedder, Susann . 2010. Mental Retirement. Journal of Economic Perspectives 24(1):119-38.
- Willis,Robert J. 2009. Lifecycle asset allocation strategies and the distribution of 401(k) retirement wealth: Comment. Developments in the economics of aging :50.
- Willis,Robert J. 2008. Interpreting norms of obligation as planner's preferences for distributional justice : a formal economic model. Intergenerational caregiving :341.
- Willis,Robert J. 2008. Ageing in the U.S.: The Health and Retirement Study. Social protection in an ageing world :47.
- Willis,Robert J, Brien, M . 2008. Costs and Consequences for the Fathers. Kids having kids: economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy
- Langa,Kenneth M, Fisher,Gwenith Gwyn, Heeringa,Steven G, Weir,David R, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Willis,Robert J, Burke, James F., Rodgers, Willard L., Plassman, B , Hurd, M , Potter, G , Steffens, D , McArdle, J , Wallace, R . 2008. Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment without Dementia in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine 148(6):427-434.
- Langa,Kenneth M, Fisher,Gwenith Gwyn, Heeringa,Steven G, Weir,David R, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Willis,Robert J, Burke, James F., Rodgers, Willard L., Plassman, B L, Hurd, M D, Potter, G G, Steffens, D C, Wallace, R B. 2007. Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study. Neuroepidemiology 29(1/2):125-132.
- Willis,Robert J. 2005. Individual Subjective Survival Curves: Comment. Analyses in the Economics of Aging :402-411.
- Willis,Robert J, Hauser, Robert Mason. 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)
- Langa,Kenneth M, Heeringa,Steven G, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Fisher,Gwenith Gwyn, Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Herzog, Anna R., Burke, James F., Fultz, Nancy, Rodgers, Willard L., Plassman, Brenda L, Wallace, Robert B, Hurd, Michael D, Potter, Guy G, Steffens, D . 2005. The aging, demographics, and memory study: Study design and methods. Neuroepidemiology 25(4):181-191.
- Norbert Schwarz, Willis,Robert J, McFadden, Daniel L., Bemmaor, A C, Caro, F G, Dominitz, J , Jun, B H, Lewbel, A , Matzkin, R L, Molinary, F , Winter, J K. 2005. Statistical analysis of choice experiments and surveys. Marketing Letters 16(3/4):183-196.
- Willis,Robert J. 2005. Utility Evaluation of Risk in Retirement Saving Accounts: Comment. Analyses in the Economics of Aging :53-57.
- Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Sevak, Purvi . 2004. The Economic Consequence of a Husband's Death: Evidence from HRS and AHEAD. Social Security Bulletin 65(3):31-44.
- Willis,Robert J, Weir,David R, Herzog, Anna R.. 2004. Research on aging. A Telescope on Society: Survey Research and Social Science at the University of Michigan and Beyond
- Langa,Kenneth M, Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Larsen, E B, Wallace, Robert B, Fendrick, A Mark, Foster, Norman L, Kabeto, Mohammed U. 2004. Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditures Among Older Americans With Dementia. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders 18(2):90-98.
- Willis,Robert J, Rosen, Sherwin . 2004. Education and Self-Selection. Markets and diversity :170-204.
- Willis,Robert J. 2004. Child Support and the Problem of Economic Incentives. The law and economics of child support payments :31-59.
- Willis,Robert J. 2003. Microeconomics of demographic behavior. Encyclopedia of Population :632-637.
- Willis,Robert J, Rosen, Sherwin . 2003. Education and Self-Selection. The economics of schooling and school quality 1:73-102.
- Willis,Robert J, Lillard, Lee A. 2003. Dynamic Aspects of Earning Mobility. The economics of poverty and inequality 2
- Langa,Kenneth M, Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Herzog, Anna R., Foster, Norman L, Kabeto, Mohammed U, Fendrick, A Mark. 2002. Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditures Among Elderly Individuals With Dementia in the US. Neurobiology of Aging 23(1):S45.
- Traugott,Michael W, Brader,Ted, Curtin,Richard T, Private: Jackson, James Sidney, Kinder,Donald R, Shapiro,Matthew D, Tessler,Mark A, Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Featherman, David, Groves, Robert M., Hill, Martha Scott, Juster, F. Thomas, Kahn, Robert L., Pennell, Beth-Ellen, Coral, Deborah A, Kennedy, C . 2002. How Americans Responded: A Study of Public Reactions to 9/11/01. PS-Political Science & Politics 35(3):511-516.
- Willis,Robert J, Frankenberg, Elizabeth , Lillard, Lee A. 2002. Patterns of Intergenerational Transfers in Southeast Asia. Journal of Marriage and the Family 64(3):627-641.
- Langa,Kenneth M, Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J, Hayward, Rodney A., Vijan, Sandeep , Chernew, Michael , Blaum, Caroline S, Kabeto, Mohammed U, Katz, Steven J. 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.
- Langa,Kenneth M, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Willis,Robert J, Herzog, Anna R., Chernew, Michael , Wallace, Robert B, Mucha, L M, Straus, W L. 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. Demographic change and fiscal policy :155-158.
- Willis,Robert J, Hill, Daniel H. 2001. Reducing Panel Attrition: A Search for Effective Policy Instruments.. Journal of Human Resources 36(3):416-438.
- Willis,Robert J, Weinstein, Maxine . 2001. Stretching Social Surveys to Include Bioindicators: Possibilities for The Health and Retirement Study, Experience from The Taiwan Study of the Elderly. Cells and Surveys: Should Biological Measures be Included In Social Research?
- Weir,David R, Willis,Robert J. 2000. Prospects for Widow Poverty. Forecasting retirement needs and retirement wealth :208-234.
- Willis,Robert J. 2000. The Economics of Fatherhood. American Economic Review 90(2):378-382.
- Willis,Robert J, Smith, James P. 1999. Wealth, work, and health: Innovations in measurement in the social sciences: Essays in honor of F. Thomas Juster.
- 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.
- Willis,Robert J, Wray, Linda, Herzog, Anna R., Wallace, Robert B. 1998. The impact of education and heart attack on smoking cessation among middle-aged adults. Journal of health & social behavior 39(4):271-294.
- Willis,Robert J, Brien, Michael J. 1997. The partners of welfare mothers: Earnings and child support potential. Future of Children 7(1):65-73.
- Willis,Robert J, Weiss, Yoram . 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. The economics of population: Key modern writings 2:485-538.
- Willis,Robert J, Lillard, Lee A. 1997. Motives for Intergenerational Transfers: Evidence from Malaysia. Demography 34 (1): 115-134
- Willis,Robert J, Brien, Michael J. 1996. The costs and consequences of early fatherhood: The impact on young men, young women and their children. Kids having kids: Economic costs and Social consequences of teen pregnancy
- Willis,Robert J, Haaga, John G. 1996. Economic Approaches to Understanding Nonmarital Fertility. Population and Development Review 22:67-86.
- Willis,Robert J, Parish, William L. 1995. Daughters, Education, and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences. Investment in women's human capital :239-272.
- Willis,Robert J, Lillard, Lee A. 1994. Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Effects of Family and State in Malaysia. Journal of Human Resources 29(4):1126-1166.
- Willis,Robert J, Lee, Yean-Ju , Parish, William L. 1994. Sons, daughters, and intergenerational support in Taiwan. American Journal of Sociology 99:p1010(32).
- Willis,Robert J, Parish, William L. 1993. Daughters, Education, and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences. Journal of Human Resources 28(4):863-898.
- Willis,Robert J, Weiss, Yoram . 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. Economics of changing age distributions in developed countries :106-38..
- Willis,Robert J. 1987. Externalities and Population. Population growth and economic development: Issues and evidence :661-702.
- Willis,Robert J. 1987. What Have We Learned from the Economics of the Family?. American Economic Review 77(2):68-81.
- Willis,Robert J. 1986. Wage Determinants: A Survey and Reinterpretation of Human Capital Earnings Functions. Handbook of labor economics 1:525-602.
- Willis,Robert J, Weiss, Yoram . 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 8:207-234.
- Willis,Robert J, James, Estelle , Neuberger, Egon . 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.
- Willis,Robert J, Heckman, James J. 1979. Reply to Mincer and Ofek [The Distribution of Lifetime Labor Force Participation of Married Women]. Journal of Political Economy 87(1):203-211.
- Willis,Robert J, Lillard, Lee A. 1978. Dynamic Aspects of Earning Mobility. Econometrica 46(5):985-1012.
- Willis,Robert J, Heckman, James J. 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.