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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Brown, W. Mark; Lafrance, Amélie |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Survey of Household Spending and from its predecessor, the Survey of Family Expenditures, this paper investigates the relative incomes of retirement-age and working-age Canadians from 1969 to 2006, taking into account both explicit household income and the implicit income generated by owner-occupied housing. Over this 37-year period, the explicit incomes of retirement-age households increased at a more rapid pace than those of working-age households. Implicit income from owner-occupied housing also increased rapidly during this time, matching the rate at which the explicit income of retirement-age households increased. On average, this implicit source of earnings raised the incomes of retirement-age households (aged 70 and over) by 16%. Taking both forms of income into account, the incomes of retirement-age households (aged 70 and over), relative to the incomes of working-age households (aged 40 to 49), increased from 45% in 1969 to 59% in 2006. During this period, Canadians invested in housing assets that provided additional income upon retirement. |
| Keywords: | Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Seniors, Work and retirement |
| Date: | 2010–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2010066e&r=age |
| By: | Roel Beetsma (University of Amsterdam); Alessandro Bucciol (University of Verona, University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We investigate numerically how indexation of funded pensions for inflation can be differ- entiated across the various groups of fund participants. The pension arrangement is modelled after the Dutch situation. While the aggregate welfare consequences are small, group-specific consequences are more substantial with the workers and future born losing and retirees bene- fitting from a shift away from uniform indexation. Those welfare shifts result from systematic redistribution of welfare rather than shifts in the benefit of risk sharing provided by the system. |
| Keywords: | indexation; funded pensions; welfare effects; pension buffers; stochastic simulations |
| JEL: | H55 I38 C61 |
| Date: | 2010–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20100128&r=age |
| By: | Bonsang Eric; Soest Arthur van (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of an important component of well-beingamong individuals aged 50 years or older in eleven European countries: satisfactionwith social contacts. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirementin Europe and anchoring vignettes to correct for potential differences in responsesscales across countries and socio-demographic groups. On average, older Europeansreport being satisfied with their social contacts, but there exist substantial differencesacross countries: respondents from Northern countries tend to be more satisfied thanindividuals from Central or Mediterranean countries. Our analysis shows that correctingfor response scale differentials alters the country ranking for of satisfaction with socialcontacts, while it has much less effect on the estimates of what drives within countrydeterminants. |
| Keywords: | labour economics ; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2010012&r=age |
| By: | Bonsang Eric; Soest Arthur van (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | Using data on individuals of age 50 and older from 11 European countries, we analyzetwo economic aspects of subjective well-being of older Europeans: satisfaction withhousehold income, and job satisfaction. Both have been shown to contribute substantiallyto overall well-being (satisfaction with life or happiness). We use anchoring vignettes tocorrect for potential differences in response scales across countries.The results highlight a large variation in self-reported income satisfaction, which ispartly explained by differences in response scales. When differences in response scalesare eliminated, the cross country differences are quite well in line with differences inan objective measure of purchasing power of household income. There are commonfeatures in the response scale differences in job satisfaction and income satisfaction.French respondents tend to be critical in both assessments, while Danish and Dutchrespondents are always on the optimistic end of the spectrum. Moreover, correcting forresponse scale differences decreases the cross-country association between satisfactionwith income and job satisfaction among workers. |
| Keywords: | labour economics ; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2010011&r=age |
| By: | SIERMINSKA Eva; TAKHTAMANOVA Yelena |
| Abstract: | The recession the United States economy entered in December of 2007 is considered to be the most severe downturn the country has experienced since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate reached as high as 10.1 percent in October 2009 - the highest we have seen since the 1982 recession. In this paper we examine the severity of this recession compared to those in the past by examining worker flows into and out of unemployment taking into account changes in the demographic structure of the population. We identify the most vulnerable groups of this recession by dissagregating the workforce by age, gender and race. We find that adjusting for the aging of the U.S. labor force increases the severity of this recession. Our results indicate that the increase in the unemployment rate is driven to a larger extent by the lack of hiring (low outflows), but flows into unemployment are still important for understanding unemployment rate dynamics (they are not as acyclical as some literature suggests) and differences in unemployment rates across demographic groups. We find that this is indeed a "mancession," as men face higher job separation probabilities, lower job finding probabilities and, as a result, higher unemployment rates than women. Lastly, there is some evidence that blacks suffered more than whites (again, this difference is particularly pronounced for men). |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; Worker flows; Job Finding Rate; Separation Rate; Demographics; Gender |
| JEL: | J01 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-41&r=age |