nep-age New Economics Papers
on Economics of Ageing
Issue of 2013‒04‒06
eleven papers chosen by
Claudia Villosio
LABORatorio R. Revelli

  1. Exchanging Delayed Social Security Benefits for Lump Sums: Could This Incentivize Longer Work Careers? By Jingjing Chai; Raimond Maurer; Olivia S. Mitchell; Ralph Rogalla
  2. 3 sides of 1 coin – Long-term Fiscal Stability, Adequacy and Intergenerational Redistribution of the reformed Old-age Pension System in Poland By Janusz Jablonowski; Christoph Müller
  3. India's senior citizen's policy and an examination of the life of senior citizens in North Delhi By Ota, Hitoshi
  4. Interdependent durations in joint retirement By Bo Honore; Aureo de Paula
  5. Personality Traits and Economic Preparation for Retirement By Michael D. Hurd; Angela Lee Duckworth; Susann Rohwedder; David R. Weir
  6. Social Security Earnings Test and the Labor Supply of the Elderly: New evidence from unique survey responses in Japan By SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi
  7. Vocational Rehabilitation on the Road to Social Security Disability: Longitudinal Statistics from Matched Administrative Data. By David C. Stapleton; Frank H. Martin
  8. Evidence on Individual Preferences for Longevity Risk By G. Delprat; M.-L. Leroux; P.-C. Michaud
  9. Revisiting the Labor Supply Effect of Social Security Earnings Test: New evidence from its elimination and reinstatement in Japan By SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi; OSHIO Takashi
  10. Seniors en emploi et conciliation travail-famille By Marie-Agnès Barrère-Maurisson
  11. Beyond Expected Utility in the Economics of Health and Longevity By Cordoba, Juan Carlos; Ripoll, Marla

  1. By: Jingjing Chai (Goethe University); Raimond Maurer (Goethe University); Olivia S. Mitchell (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania); Ralph Rogalla (Goethe University)
    Abstract: Social Security benefits are currently provided as a lifelong benefit stream, though some workers would be willing to trade a portion of their annuity streams in exchange for a lump sum amount. This paper explores whether allowing people to receive a lump sum as a payment for delayed retirement rather than as an addition to their lifetime Social Security benefits might induce them to work longer. We model the factors that influence how people trade off a Social Security stream for a lump sum, and we also examine the consequences of such tradeoffs for work, retirement, and life cycle wellbeing. Our base case indicates that workers given the chance to receive their delayed retirement credit as a lump sum payment would boost their average retirement age by l.5-2 years. This will interest policymakers seeking to reform the Social Security system without raising costs or cutting benefits, while enhancing the incentives to delay retirement.
    Date: 2012–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp266&r=age
  2. By: Janusz Jablonowski (National Bank of Poland); Christoph Müller (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)
    Abstract: In this paper we evaluate the long-term performance of the Polish public pension system from three perspectives: fiscal stability, intergenerational redistribution and adequacy of pension benefits. We assess the two recent public pension reforms undertaken in Poland: 1) the shift of a part of pension contributions from the funded to the unfunded pension pillar and 2) the gradual increase in retirement ages to 67 for both men and women. The results suggest that the combined effect of both reforms shows a significant improvement in cash balances until 2040. The burden of the reforms is shared relatively equally across generations. The effect of higher retirement ages on benefit levels is also positive, especially for those having standard job contracts. What is worrying, however, is the general future drop of benefit levels, in particular for the group of self-employed persons. Policy makers should, therefore, start discussing possible measures today if they aim to avoid a significant increase in old age poverty in the future.
    Keywords: Generational Accounting, fiscal sustainability, fiscal policy, Poland, pension reform
    JEL: H50 H55 H60 H68 J10 H30
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbp:nbpmis:145&r=age
  3. By: Ota, Hitoshi
    Abstract: The paper investigates the ageing situation in India and the development of the government initiatives for the welfare of senior citizens. It also presents the initial results of a survey that the author conducted in 2011 in North Delhi. The main features related to ageing in India are 'feminisation', 'rurality' and 'poverty'. The survey in North Delhi reveals the differences between the male and the female senior citizens, and the vulnerability of the latter, in particular. The social security coverage such as pensions and health insurance was found quite limited among the respondents.
    Keywords: India, Social security, Aged, Pensions, Social policy, Senior Citizens Policy, New Pension Scheme (NPS), Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)
    JEL: I38 J14 R22
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper402&r=age
  4. By: Bo Honore (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Princeton); Aureo de Paula (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Pennsylvania)
    Abstract: In this paper we specify and use a new duration model to study joint retirement in married couples using the Health and Retirement Study. Whereas conventionally used models cannot account for joint retirement, our model admits joint retirement with positive probability, allows for simultaneity and nests the traditional proportional hazards model. In contrast to other statistical models for simultaneous durations, it is based on Nash bargaining and it is therefore interpretable in terms of economic behaviour. We provide a discussion of relevant identifying variation and estimate our model using indirect inference. The main empirical finding is that the simultaneity seems economically important. In our prefered specification the indirect utility associated with being retired increases by approximately 10% if one's spouse is already retired. By comparison, a defined benefit pension plan increases indirect utility by 20-30%. The estimated model also predicts that the indirect effect of a change in husbands' pension plan on wives' retirement dates is about 10% of the direct effect on the husbands.
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:05/13&r=age
  5. By: Michael D. Hurd (RAND); Angela Lee Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania); Susann Rohwedder (RAND); David R. Weir (Survey Research Center, University of Michigan)
    Abstract: This paper assesses the effects of personality traits on economic preparation for retirement, wealth accumulation, and consumption, among persons 66 to 69 years of age. Among the five chief personality traits of neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, we focus most on conscientiousness. We find levels of adequate economic preparation for retirement ranging from 29 percent to 90 percent and that conscientiousness positively affects the proportion of persons adequately prepared for retirement, while neuroticism negatively affects it. Both consumption and wealth increase with conscientiousness but wealth increases faster, indicating that more conscientious persons save more out of retirement resources.
    Date: 2012–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp279&r=age
  6. By: SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi
    Abstract: This study proposes an alternative approach of utilizing direct responses to a survey on the social security earnings test for the elderly to provide new evidence on the sensitivity of the labor supply decision of workers aged between 60 and 64 with respect to the test. Our empirical results show a discouraging effect on working in a large proportion of these workers in Japan, even after correcting for the observed attributes of individuals who reported to be either affected or unaffected.
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13017&r=age
  7. By: David C. Stapleton; Frank H. Martin
    Keywords: Social Security disability, disability insurance, Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, OASDI, Rehabilitation Services Administration, RSA, SSDI workers, disabled adult children, disabled beneficiaries
    JEL: I J
    Date: 2012–09–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7674&r=age
  8. By: G. Delprat; M.-L. Leroux; P.-C. Michaud
    Abstract: The standard model of intertemporal choice assumes risk neutrality toward the length of life: due to additivity, agents are not sensitive to a mean preserving spread in the length of life. Using a survey fielded in the RAND American Life Panel (ALP), this paper provides empirical evidence on possible deviation from risk neutrality with respect to longevity in the U.S. population. The questions we ask allow to find the distribution as well as to quantify the degree of risk aversion with respect to the length of life in the population. We find evidence that roughly 75% of respondents were not neutral with respect to longevity risk. Higher income households are more likely to be risk averse. We do not find evidence that the degree of risk aversion varies with age or education.
    Keywords: Intertemporal choice, Risk aversion toward the Length of Life, Stated-Preference
    JEL: D12 D91 I10 J26
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1304&r=age
  9. By: SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi; OSHIO Takashi
    Abstract: We explore the labor supply effect of the social security earnings test in Japan on those aged 65-69 years through a combined examination of the elimination of the earnings test in 1985 and its reinstatement in 2002. We present evidence showing that the effects of changes in the earnings test on the labor supply of the elderly are not symmetric, controlling for changes in the attributes of workers and firms. The repeal of the earnings test in 1985 did affect the earnings distribution of the elderly (especially for men), while its reinstatement in 2002 did not alter the earnings distribution.
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13016&r=age
  10. By: Marie-Agnès Barrère-Maurisson (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne)
    Abstract: L'emploi des seniors est un des enjeux des prochaines années dans nos sociétés développées. En effet ceux-ci vont être plus nombreux, à la fois pour des raisons démographiques et en raison du recul de l'âge de la retraite (notamment pour les femmes). Ainsi, les entreprises vont être plus souvent confrontées à la question des conditions d'emploi des seniors qui doivent assumer la charge, partielle ou plus importante, de leurs propres parents âgés. Cette charge va s'ajouter dans de nombreux cas à celle qu'ils assument déjà auprès de leurs petits-enfants. Les personnes actives de plus de 55 ans ont donc une charge importante de travail domestique réalisé pour autrui, en particulier pour la famille élargie, alors même que leur propre état de santé commence à se dégrader. On se propose ici d'analyser les incidences de ces phénomènes sur les conditions d'emploi des seniors actifs, et ce dans deux directions. Tout d'abord l'impact sur les pratiques des entreprises en termes de gestion et d'aménagement de temps. Ensuite, du côté des salariés, en matière de pratiques de gestion des temps personnels : temps de travail, temps domestique, " temps grand-parental " et " temps de solidarité intergénérationnelle ".
    Keywords: Emploi/famille; seniors; temps de travail; temps domestique; temps parental
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00802656&r=age
  11. By: Cordoba, Juan Carlos; Ripoll, Marla
    Abstract: We document various limitations of the expected utility model for the study of health and longevity. The model assumes individuals are indifferent between early and late resolution of uncertainty. This assumption gives rise to predictions regarding the economic value of life that are inconsistent with relevant evidence. For example, poor individuals would price life below the present value of foregone income or even negatively. We show that a non-expected utility model disentangling intertemporal substitution from risk aversion can overcome these limitations. We illustrate the quantitative implications of our model for the economic value of life across countries and time.
    Keywords: life expectancy; value of statistical life; mortality risk aversion; Epstein-Zin-Weil pref- erences; Welfare; AIDS.
    JEL: I J
    Date: 2013–03–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:36067&r=age

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