nep-age New Economics Papers
on Economics of Ageing
Issue of 2019‒09‒16
eight papers chosen by
Claudia Villosio
LABORatorio R. Revelli

  1. Optimal Structure of Pension System and Its Influence on the Social Policy of State Budget By Marina Tabatadze
  2. Impact of Defaults in Retirement Saving Plans: Public Employee Plans By Robert L. Clark; Denis Pelletier
  3. Cities of Workers, Children or Seniors? Age Structure and Economic Growth in a Global Cross-Section of Cities By Remi Jedwab; Daniel Pereira; Mark Roberts
  4. Time Variation in Lifecycle Consumption and Housing Wealth By Yunus Aksoy; Henrique S. Basso; Carolyn St Aubyn
  5. Accounting for Federal Retirement and Veterans' Benefits: Cash and Accrual Measures By Congressional Budget Office
  6. Impact of Psycho-Social Predictors on the Quality of Life of the Elderly in Pakistan By Naqeeb Shah; Basharat Hussain; Samiullah Paracha; Muhammad Shakil Ahmad
  7. A Model of Self-Development for Enhancing Psychological Immunity of the Elderly By Oraphin Choochom
  8. Le Passage à la retraite By Madeleine Péron; Mathieu Perona; Claudia Senik

  1. By: Marina Tabatadze (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia)
    Abstract: The world is witnessing an important increase in number of elderly people. This process is accompanied by the increase of the proposition of working and retired population, which has significant economic, social and political implications. To answer these challenges, the governments across the world engaged in comprehensive reforms of social policies, out of which the reform of pension system is the most important. The presented research aims to determine the main directions of pension reforms undertook by different countries. More precisely, the objective is to identify the trends characterizing reforms in developing countries and compare them to the tendencies observed in the reforms of developing economies. Therefore, the aim of research is to get generalized results, which will contribute greatly to the existing scientific literature and will be useful in the process of perfecting and improving the current pension reform. To do so, the paper studies reforms together with the existing scientific literature and public reports issued by international organizations. The results of the study suggest that the most common pension system across the globe implies introduction of the accumulated pension model (Defined Contribution Plan) instead of solidarity pension scheme (Defined Benefit Plan). This is a radical change impacting country’s economy, social and cultural norms and legislation. The reason behind the reform was the limitation of the existing model, but also the demographic trend of aging the population.
    Keywords: Pension reforms, retirement, public policy, state budget, Defined Contribution Plan
    Date: 2019–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:dpaper:03mt&r=all
  2. By: Robert L. Clark; Denis Pelletier
    Abstract: This study examines the impact of the adoption automatic enrollment provisions by the state of South Dakota for its supplemental retirement saving plan (SRP). In South Dakota, state and local government employees, including teachers, are also covered by a defined benefit pension plan and by Social Security. Thus, career public employees in South Dakota can expect a life time annuity from these two programs of around 75 percent of their final salary. Prior to the introduction of automatic enrollment, the proportion of newly hired employees who were contributing to the SRP was less than three percent in their first year of employment. After the introduction of automatic enrollment, over 90 percent of newly hired workers who were auto enrolled were participating in the plan. Significant differences compared to earlier studies of auto enrollment include: we are examining public employees who are also covered by a defined benefit retirement plan, prior to the introduction of auto enroll participation were extremely low, and these is no employer match to employee contributions to the SRP. Thus, the key question is whether auto enrollment has the same powerful impact on contributions to a retirement saving plan under these conditions.
    JEL: J18 J26 J45
    Date: 2019–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26234&r=all
  3. By: Remi Jedwab (George Washington University); Daniel Pereira (George Washington University); Mark Roberts (The World Bank)
    Abstract: A large literature documents the positive influence of a city’s skill structure on its rate of economic growth. By contrast, the effect of a city’s age structure on its economic growth has been a hitherto largely neglected area of research. We hypothesize that cities with more working-age adults are likely to grow faster than cities with more children or seniors and set-out the potential channels through which such differential growth may occur. Using data from a variety of historical and contemporary sources, we show that there exists marked variation in the age structure of the world’s largest cities, both across cities and over time. We then study how age structure affects economic growth for a global cross-section of mega-cities. Using various identification strategies, we find that mega-cities with higher dependency ratios - i.e. with more children and/or seniors per working-age adult - grow significantly slower. Such effects are particularly pronounced for cities with high shares of children. This result appears to be mainly driven by the direct negative effects of a higher dependency ratio on the size of the working-age population and the indirect effects on work hours and productivity for working age adults within a city.
    Keywords: Urbanization; Cities; Age Structure; Dependency Ratios; Children; Ageing; Demographic Cycles; Agglomeration Effects; Human Capital; Growth; Development
    JEL: R10 R11 R19 J11 J13 J14 O11 N30
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2019-13&r=all
  4. By: Yunus Aksoy (Birkbeck, University of London); Henrique S. Basso (Banco de España); Carolyn St Aubyn (Birkbeck, University of London)
    Abstract: We document systematic and significant time variation in the profiles of lifecycle consumption expenditures in the US. Lifecycle consumption profiles have consistently become flatter through time. Pooling data across different periods to identify consumption profiles masks relevant time variation and may artificially generate the well known hump-shaped consumption age profile. We also identify the effect of perceived housing wealth on lifecycle consumption profiles. Housing influenced lifecycle consumption particularly from 2006 onwards and for older households. We propose mechanisms that may account for the estimated results employing an overlapping generations model with perceived housing wealth and time varying borrowing constraints
    Keywords: Age profile of Consumption, Structural Trends, House Prices
    JEL: E21 J11
    Date: 2019–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbk:bbkcam:1904&r=all
  5. By: Congressional Budget Office
    Abstract: Programs that provide benefits to retired federal civilian workers, retired military personnel, and veterans have long-term effects on the federal budget. The government’s cash payments for those benefits are reported in the budget as outlays when they are made—which means that the long-term costs of current decisions about those benefits are not reflected in the current budget deficit.
    JEL: G00 H50 H83 J32 J45
    Date: 2019–09–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:55499&r=all
  6. By: Naqeeb Shah (Kohat University, Pakistan); Basharat Hussain (University of Peshawar, Pakistan); Samiullah Paracha (Sunderland University, UK); Muhammad Shakil Ahmad (Comsat University, Pakistan)
    Abstract: This study was aimed to analyze the Quality of Life of the elderly with regard to socio-economic conditions and psycho-social perspectives in Peshawar, Pakistan. In the present review, the focus has been made to examine the impacts of various predictors on the quality of life. A multiple indicator approach, which was based on PLS-SEM, was used to assess the impact of different psycho-socio-economic and demographic indicators on the psychological well-being of the elderly. Hypotheses were planned and evaluated for each dimension in the analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Two standard inventories: Scale with Life Satisfaction and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale were adopted and evaluated as a composite outcome measure “Quality of Life†, employing Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling technique. The coefficient in the model showed that Social Circle, Health and General Activity have a significant contribution to the Quality of Life. The findings of the study indicated that the relationship between the explanatory variables and outcome variable was strong in the model. All constructs collectively were accounted for 68% of the amount of variance in the construct of Quality of Life. The result exhibited that the Friends and Family construct was the strongest determinant for Quality of Life and Psychological wellbeing in the retired elderly.
    Keywords: Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, Leisure Activity, Social Circle, Psychological Wellbeing
    Date: 2019–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:cpaper:34ns&r=all
  7. By: Oraphin Choochom (Behavioral Science Research Institute, Srinakharinwirot University)
    Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention of self-development for enhancing psychological immunity of the elderly. The psychological immunity intervention (PI) was based on an integration of mindfulness, self-efficacy, and optimism approaches. The study was a quasi-experimental design, including pretest and posttest with a control group. The sample was recruited from senior clubs in Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok Thailand. Participants were divided into 2 groups: 1) the intervention group (24 participants) participated in the PI intervention activities and the control group (24 participants) did not receive any intervention. The PI intervention consisted of 10 sessions for 5 weeks which lasted for two hours per session. Participants from both groups completed the questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Results showed that elders in the PI intervention group scored significantly higher on psychological immunity and psychological well-being than did the control group. More specifically, elders receiving the PI intervention showed significantly greater psychological immunity in the domains of resilience, mindfulness, and hope than did the control group. The findings suggest that the intervention is beneficial for elder people and senior clubs to improve psychological immunity and well-being.
    Keywords: Psychological immunity, intervention, well-being, elderly
    JEL: I19
    Date: 2019–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:8710642&r=all
  8. By: Madeleine Péron (CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications); Mathieu Perona; Claudia Senik (PSE - Paris School of Economics)
    Abstract: Le projet de réforme du système de retraites français, dévoilé en juillet dernier, devrait remplacer les notions d'âge légal de départ à la retraite par un âge-pivot, évoluant en fonction de l'espérance de vie des générations. On a déjà pu voir à quel point cette question de l'âge de départ à la retraite faisait l'objet de prises de position marquées, reflétant l'importance symbolique de cette transition dans notre société. Pour autant, la littérature économique met en évidence des impacts négatifs comme positifs du départ à la retraite, selon le contexte national et la situation des personnes concernées. Cette ambivalence du départ à la retraite se retrouve dans les évaluations subjectives de bien-être. La retraite n'efface par ailleurs pas ou peu les différences sociales dans l'évaluation de son bien-être : les plus satisfaits avant leur retraite le sont également après, même si dans certains domaines, en particulier celui de la santé, l'écart entre groupes sociaux tend à se réduire avec le passage à la retraite. Du fait de la place occupée par le travail dans la construction de la position sociale des individus, la retraite peut également être un moment d'interrogation de leur utilité sociale, lorsque certains liens de sociabilité liés au travail se distendent. Nous observons de tels effets dans le cas français, mais ils restent faibles pour les personnes de moins de 70 ans, et d'autant plus faibles si, comme un tiers des retraités de cette classe d'âge, la personne est engagée dans des activités de bénévolat. Les interrogations douloureuses sur l'utilité sociale ou le sentiment de solitude sont plutôt un problème propre au quatrième âge, à partir de 80 ans.
    Keywords: Retraites,Bien-être,Isolement,Santé subjective
    Date: 2019–09–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02278046&r=all

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