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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Nam, Valerie E.; Jones, Francis |
| Abstract: | As population age structures change over the coming decades, the cost of providing public education, pensions and health care will change significantly. Falling child dependency ratios and increasing old-age dependency ratios will affect the number of people that receive education and pension benefits. The changing age profile of the population will also affect the demand for health services. This study analyses how public expenditure in these areas, in 10 Caribbean countries, is likely to evolve in response to these demographic changes. It describes how populations are ageing in the Caribbean and analyses how current levels of public expenditure are related to age structures in both Caribbean and OECD countries. |
| Date: | 2018–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:43238&r=age |
| By: | Bertoni, M.;; Brunello, G.;; Mazzarella, G.; |
| Abstract: | By increasing the residual working horizon of employed individuals, pension reforms that rise minimum retirement age can affect individual investment in health-promoting behaviors before retirement. Using the expected increase in minimum retirement age induced by a 2004 Italian pension reform and a difference-in-differences research design, we show that middleaged Italian males affected by the reform reacted to the longer working horizon by increasing regular exercise, with positive consequences for obesity and self-reported satisfaction with health. |
| Keywords: | retirement; working horizon; healthy behaviors; pension reforms; |
| JEL: | H55 I12 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:18/03&r=age |
| By: | Péter Hudomiet (RAND); Michael D. Hurd (RAND); Susann Rohwedder (RAND); Robert J. Willis (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | As workers age, their physical and cognitive abilities tend to decline. This could lead to a mismatch between workers’ resources and the demands of their jobs, restricting future work. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to detailed occupational characteristics from the O*NET project to investigate how mismatches between job demands and workers’ resources in two physical and two cognitive domains affect retirement outcomes. We estimate how changes in physical and cognitive resources as well as their interactions with occupational job-demands affect changes in 1) subjective reports of work-limiting health problems; 2) mental health; and 3) subjective probabilities of working past age 65. We also estimate hazard models for transitions from full-time work to retirement. We found that declines in physical and cognitive resources are strong predictors of all outcomes: Fewer resources lead to greater reporting of work-limiting health problems; decline in mental health; smaller subjective probabilities of working full-time past age 65; and more transitions from work to retirement. The interaction of resources with job demands, however, is only statistically significant for workers with large-muscle limitations who are more likely to report changes in outcomes when they work in occupations that rely heavily on physical strength. In contrast, the effects of declines in fine motor skills and cognition do not show statistically significant differences by occupational job demands. It appears cognitive and fine motor skills, at least as measured in the HRS, are universally important determinants of working, not specific to certain occupations. |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp372&r=age |
| By: | Xiaodong Fan (University of New South Wales); Ananth Seshadri (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Christopher Taber (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | We develop and estimate a model in which individuals make decisions on consumption, human capital investment, labor supply, and retirement. Unlike all previous work, our model allows both an endogenous wage process (which is typically assumed exogenous in the human capital and earnings dynamics literature). In addition, we introduce health shocks. We estimate the model and match the life-cycle profiles of wages, hours and retirement from SIPP data. We analyze the impact of health shocks on retirement, as well as the effect of changes in payroll taxes and increases in the Normal Retirement Age on labor force participation of older Americans. |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp367&r=age |
| By: | Gény, Lydia Rosa |
| Abstract: | This report summarises the progress and challenges faced by the English French and Dutch-speaking Member and Associate Member Countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) in the implementation of the San José Charter on the rights of older persons in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) of 2002. |
| Date: | 2018–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:43237&r=age |
| By: | James Mabli; Elizabeth Gearan; Rhoda Cohen; Katherine Niland; Nicholas Redel; Erin Panzarella; Barbara Carlson |
| Abstract: | In an effort to ensure that the health and social needs of older adults are adequately met and to rebalance long-term care provision away from institutionalization and toward home and community-based services, the Administration on Aging (AoA) within the Administration for Community Living of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) administers the Title III-C Nutrition Services Program (NSP) as part of the Older Americans Act (OAA). |
| Keywords: | Title III-C, NSP, congregate meals, home-delivered meals, OAA, ACL |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:8990ef39b8c24964a3091cae3ca6601d&r=age |
| By: | Dal Borgo Mariela |
| Abstract: | Using data of households approaching retirement in the U.S., I find that the Whites' median saving rates are 9 percentage points larger than the Mexican Americans' rates (ethnic gap) and than the African Americans' rates (racial gap). Two-thirds of each gap correspond to changes in asset prices and a third to households' active decisions. Quantile decompositions show that differences in income and education explain most of the active saving gaps. This implies that wealth inequality is not attributable to differences in the distributions of active saving rates conditional on socio-economic characteristics. When retirement assets are included, the racial but not the ethnic gap in total savings disappears. The results suggest that reducing disparities in income, education and pension savings would help to reduce wealth inequality. |
| Keywords: | African Americans;Mexican Americans;saving rates;wealth inequality |
| JEL: | D14 D31 E21 G11 J15 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2018-02&r=age |
| By: | Strulik, Holger |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I introduce depression to the economics of human health and aging. Based on studies from happiness research, depression is conceptualized as a drastic loss of utility and value of life (life satisfaction) for unchanged fundamentals. The model is used to explain how untreated depression leads to unhealthy behavior and adverse health outcomes: depressed individuals are predicted to save less, invest less in their health, consume more unhealthy goods, and exercise less. As a result, they age faster and die earlier than non-depressed individuals. I calibrate the model for an average American and discus the socioeconomic gradient of health and depression as well as the hump-shaped association of antidepressant use with age. Delays in treatment for depression in young adulthood are predicted to have significant repercussions on late-life health outcomes and longevity. |
| Keywords: | depression,depression therapy,health behavior,aging,longevity |
| JEL: | D91 I10 I12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:337&r=age |
| By: | Gila Bronshtein; Jason Scott; John B. Shoven; Sita N. Slavov |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the relative strengths of working longer vs. saving more in terms of increasing a household’s affordable, sustainable standard of living in retirement. Both stylized households and actual households from the Health and Retirement Study are examined. We assume that workers commence Social Security benefits when they retire. The basic result is that delaying retirement by 3-6 months has the same impact on the retirement standard of living as saving an additional one-percentage point of labor earnings for 30 years. The relative power of saving more is even lower if the decision to increase saving is made later in the work life. For instance, increasing retirement saving by one percentage point ten years before retirement has the same impact on the sustainable retirement standard of living as working a single month longer. The calculations of the relative power of working longer and saving more are done for a wide range of realized rates of returns on saving, for households with different income levels, and for singles as well as married couples. The results are quite invariant to these circumstances. |
| JEL: | D14 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24226&r=age |
| By: | Manuela Alcañiz (Riskcenter, Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economy, Universitat de Barcelona); Aïda Solé-Auró (DemoSoc Research Group, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | Background, Reaching advanced old age is more common now than ever. The sustained growth in longevity raises questions about why some people can feel in good quality of life until the last stages, while others seem to accuse the natural deterioration to a larger extent. The self-perceived quality of life has a subjective component, but is also mediated by some easily measurable factors such as sociodemography, health, functioning and lifestyles. Methods, This study uses nationally representative data for Catalonia (Spain) to explain the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of the population aged 80 and above. Cross-sectional data from 2011 to 2016 was provided by an official face-to-face survey. HRQL was measured through the EuroQol-5D, consisting of a 5-question descriptive system (EQ-5D), plus a visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) that summarizes the current self-perceived health. Linear regression was used to identify variables influencing the EQ-VAS score. Results, The dimensions of the EQ-5D that more severily disturbed the HRQL were mobility problems, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Self-care or usual activity problems had a milder impact. Other variables were significantly associated with HRQL. Adjusting for age and sex, low education, low social class, being underweighted or obese, having chronic conditions and disabilities, the presence of hospitalizations or visits to the emergency department, taking prescription drugs and limitations in sensory-related abilites were predictors of a poor HRQL. Conclusions, Our study identified the impact of several social, health and healthcare variables on the HRQL on 80-plus population. The multidimensional nature of the results suggests the need for a comprehensive approach to HRQL. Health prevention and promotion policies must address the old age as a specially sensitive stage of life. |
| Keywords: | longevity, health-related quality of life, EuroQol-5D, Spain. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bak:wpaper:201801&r=age |
| By: | Dagmara Nikulin (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Maciej Berêsewicz (Poznañ University of Economics and Business, Centre for Small Area Estimation, Statistical Office in Poznañ, Poznan, Poland) |
| Abstract: | The main goal of our article is to bridge the gap in the regional analysis of informal employment in Poland and in particular to indicate the propensity for informal work in the working age population, to test if informal activities are typical for marginalized people (less educated, unemployed, older) and to identify the regional and spatial heterogeneity in the propensity. We use data from the ‘Human Capital Balance 2010-2014’ survey. Results indicate a strong relationship between the probability of informal work and age, sex and labour force status. Moreover, a strong spatial dependency can be observed. |
| Keywords: | Informal employment propensity, unregistered work, shadow economy, spatial Bayesian analysis, INLA |
| JEL: | J21 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdk:wpaper:47&r=age |
| By: | Anna Nicińska (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates transfers given by different donors to parents in need for help whose children migrated abroad. We develop a formal model of time and money transfers given to the elderly parents by kin and non-kin individuals taking into account the elderly’s social network and proximity between transfer’s donor and recipient. We find that migrant children specialize in money and non-migrant children in time transfers, provided that the difference in wages and proximity between siblings is substantial, and parental social networks do not compress. The dynamics in the size and composition of parent’s social network triggered by child’s migration affects the transfers received by parents not only from children, but also from other individuals. The overall effect on total time transfers might be positive even if donors decide to decrease their transfers of time, provided that the set of donors is enlarged. |
| Keywords: | private transfers, care, time transfers, money transfers, kinship, family, social network, proximity, migration, ageing, elderly |
| JEL: | D02 D03 D19 D64 H31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2018-05&r=age |
| By: | Jin Liu; Bingdong Hou; Xiao-Wei Ma; Hua Liao |
| Abstract: | Indoor air pollution is mainly caused by solid fuel use for cooking in developing countries. Many previous studies focused on its health risks on the children and in specific local area. This paper investigates household energy usage and transition for cooking in rural China and the health effects on the elderly. A national large-scale dataset CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study) covering 450 villages and communities is employed. Logit regressions were used to quantitatively estimate the effects, after controlling for some factors such as income, demographic and geographical variables. The results robustly show that compared to non-solid fuels, solid fuel use significantly increases the possibility of chronic lung diseases (30%), exacerbation of chronic lung diseases (95%), seizure of heart disease (1.80 times), and decreases self-evaluated health status of the elderly (1.38 times). Thus, it is urgent to improve clean energy access for cooking in rural China. |
| Keywords: | indoor air pollution; household solid fuel; health risks; elderly; rural; China |
| JEL: | Q54 Q40 |
| Date: | 2018–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biw:wpaper:111&r=age |
| By: | Tingyun Chen; Jean-Jacques Hallaert; Alexander Pitt; Haonan Qu; Maximilien Queyranne; Alaina Rhee; Anna Shabunina; Jérôme Vandenbussche; Irene Yackovlev |
| Abstract: | This SDN studies the evolution of inequality across age groups leading up to and since the global financial crisis, as well as implications for fiscal and labor policies. Europe’s population is aging, child and youth poverty are rising, and income support systems are often better equipped to address old-age poverty than the challenges faced by poor children and/or unemployed youth today. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality;Poverty and inequality;Fiscal policy;Labor policy;Labor market policy;Income inequality;Poverty and inequality;Fiscal policy;Labor policy;Labor market policy |
| Date: | 2018–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfsdn:18/01&r=age |
| By: | Mergeani, Nicea; Dănciulescu, Andreea-Gabriela; Romeo, Dănciulescu |
| Abstract: | An active life on the labour market implies, besides the existence of jobs, continuous education and training of adults. Regardless of age, every person needs new knowledge, which one can obtain either by self-teaching or by attending training courses. The development of technology and information influences lifelong learning, which is why, in recent years, greater emphasis has been put on the education and training of adults. In this respect numerous Centers of Professional Training of Adults have been established, some of them attracting their learners through the implementation of projects financed from European funds, which meant free participation of adults to various courses of specialization, training or (re)qualification. The article highlights the importance of continuous education and training of adults related to the economic and social benefits deriving from it. The article analyzes some of the aspects of continuous education and training of adults that fosters active participation of adults in the labour market, concluding that, for an active professional life, the establishment of relationships between employers, employees, trainers and learners is required. |
| Keywords: | Education; adult lifelong learning; labour market; active life; training programmes; lifelong learning |
| JEL: | E24 I23 I25 J01 P46 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83660&r=age |
| By: | Richard Rogerson; Johanna Wallenius |
| Abstract: | Using the Consumption Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) module in the HRS we document how time allocations change for individuals within a household when one or more members transitions from full time work to not working. Our basic finding is that the ratio of home production to leisure time is approximately constant for both family members. We then build a model of household labor supply to understand the implications of this finding for preferences and the home production function. We conclude that this fact suggests a relatively large elasticity of substitution between the leisure of the two members. For commonly used preference specifications, this also implies a large (i.e., greater than one) intertemporal elasticity of substitution for leisure. |
| JEL: | E24 J22 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24263&r=age |
| By: | Vargas, Luis Hernán |
| Abstract: | El objetivo de este documento es revisar la historia de las reformas previsionales, desde una perspectiva analítica universalista, que han ocurrido en Chile desde 1924 hasta el debate que está aconteciendo en el país durante el primer semestre de 2017. De este modo, se hace una revisión de los debates políticos y técnicos que fundaron la Caja de Seguro Obrero (1924), su modificación por la creación del Servicio de Seguro Social y las variadas Cajas Previsionales que entregaron pensiones basadas en beneficios definidos con un financiamiento tripartito de reparto (1952). Posteriormente, se examina la reforma previsional de 1980 que suprimió el antiguo sistema de reparto y comenzó con una nueva institucionalidad e industria encargada de administrar las cuentas de capitalización individual. Finalmente, el documento hace un recorrido de las modificaciones coyunturales de los primeros gobiernos democráticos y de la Reforma Previsional que creó el Sistema de Pensiones Solidarias, promulgada por la Presidenta Bachelet el 2008. Finalmente, a modo de epílogo, se presentan los principales ejes del debate previsional y la significancia del anuncio presidencial. |
| Keywords: | PENSIONES, REFORMA ADMINISTRATIVA, POLITICA SOCIAL, HISTORIA, SEGURIDAD SOCIAL, PENSIONS, ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM, SOCIAL POLICY, HISTORY, SOCIAL SECURITY |
| Date: | 2018–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col041:43223&r=age |