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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Hancock R (School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia); Morciano M (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Pudney S (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The UK Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a non-means-tested cash benefit claimable initially only by people under 65, but receipt of which can be continued after that age. The similar Attendance Allowance (AA) can only be claimed after age 65. Recent proposals for benefit reform have suggested more favourable treatment for DLA recipients, on grounds that they have longer histories of disability and consequently lower financial security. We investigate this claim using detailed survey data on household incomes and find no evidence of higher levels of income deprivation among DLA than AA recipients in terms of equivalised pre-benefit family income. |
| Date: | 2010–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2010-27&r=age |
| By: | Sumit Agarwal; John C. Driscoll; Xavier Gabaix; David Laibson |
| Abstract: | Most U.S. households have accumulated significant assets by retirement, but these assets are often accompanied by significant liabilities. Including net home equity, households with a head age 65-74 had a median net worth of $239,400 in 2007, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). At the same time, the SCF reports that 48 percent had debt secured by a residential property, 26 percent had installment loans, and 37 percent carried credit card balances from month to month. Overall, about two-thirds of these households had at least one form of debt. This brief raises the question of whether older households have the ability to manage their increasingly large and complex balance sheets. The first section of this brief documents the decline in cognitive function that occurs as individuals age. The second section describes new evidence from 10 different financial transactions indicating that middle-age adults make fewer financial mistakes than younger or older adults. The third section explores possible policy responses to help older individuals more effectively manage their finances. The final section concludes that the best way forward is not yet clear, stressing that further research is needed on several key questions. |
| Keywords: | savings and consumption |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2010-13&r=age |
| By: | Bodvarsson, Örn B. (St. Cloud State University); Hou, Jack W. (California State University, Long Beach) |
| Abstract: | China has been experiencing two major demographic sea changes since the late 1970s: (i) Internal migration, primarily rural-to-urban, on a scale that dwarfs all other countries at any time in history; and (ii) a shift in its age distribution. The basic question posed in this paper is: How are aging and migration related in post-reform China? We argue that there is probably two-way causality: Shifts in the origin region's age distribution induce changes in the scale and structure of migration, but out- (in-) migration shifts the origin's (destination's) age distribution. We examine theoretically and empirically the relationship between origin age distribution and interprovincial migration in China using province-level census data for 1985-2005. The goal of the paper is two-fold: (i) To develop a more refined theoretical model that explains how a migrant's age affects his/her likelihood of migration; and (ii) to obtain unbiased estimates of the effect of age on the interprovincial migration rate. Our theory section is motivated by the observation that, while most researchers recognize the importance of including age in theoretical and empirical models of migration, the exact reasons for why age affects migration have not been analyzed very thoroughly. We model the migration decision and demonstrate that there is an ambiguous relationship between age and the likelihood of migration. Implications of the theory are tested with an extended modified gravity model using OLS and 2SLS. |
| Keywords: | internal migration, age distribution, reforms |
| JEL: | J61 J11 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5070&r=age |
| By: | Emmanuelle Cambois (INED institut national d'études démographiques); Florence Jusot (IRDES institut for research and information in health economics) |
| Abstract: | Conventional health surveys focus on current health and social context but rarely address past experiences of hardship or exclusion. However, recent research shows how such experiences contribute to health status and social inequalities. In order to analyse in routine statistics the impact of lifelong adverse experiences (LAE) on various health indicators, a new set of questions on financial difficulties, housing difficulties due to financial hardship and isolation was introduced in the 2004 French National health, health care and insurance survey (ESPS 2004). Logistic regressions were used to analyze associations between LAE, current socioeconomic status (SES) (education, occupation, income) and health (self-perceived health, activity limitation, chronic morbidity), on a sample of 4308 men and women aged 35 years and older. In our population, LAE were reported by 1 person out of 5. Although more frequent in low SES groups, they concerned above 10% of the highest incomes. For both sexes, LAE are significantly linked to poor self-perceived health, diseases and activity limitations, even controlling for SES (OR>2) and even in the highest income group. This pattern remains significant for LAE experienced only during childhood. The questions successfully identified in a conventional survey people exposed to health problems in relation to past experiences. LAE contribute to the social health gradient and explain variability within social groups. These questions will be useful to monitor health inequalities, for instance by further analyzing LAE related health determinants such as risk factors, exposition and care use. |
| Keywords: | Health inequalities; Lifelong adverse experiences; Health surveys |
| JEL: | I12 I32 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irh:wpaper:dt30&r=age |