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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Oriol Roch (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Ageing population and economic crisis have placed pay-as-you-go pension systems in need of mechanisms to ensure its financial stability. In this paper, we consider optimal indexing of pensions as an instrument to cope with the financial imbalances typically found in these systems. Using dynamic programming techniques in a stochastic continuous-time framework, we compute the optimal pension index and portfolio strategy that best target indexing and liquidity objectives determined by the government. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the results. |
| Keywords: | Social Security, pension indexing, pay-as-you-go, public pensions. |
| JEL: | H55 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ewp:wpaper:402web&r=all |
| By: | Beatriz Sofía Gil-Clavel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Emilio Zagheni (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Valeria Bordone (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Qualitative studies have found that the use of Information and Communication Technologies is related to an enhanced quality of life for older adults, as these technologies might act as a medium to access social capital regardless of distance. In order to quantitatively study the association between older people’s characteristics and the likelihood of having a network of close friends offline and online, we use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and from Facebook. Using a novel approach to analyze aggregated and anonymous Facebook data within a regression framework, we show that the associations between having close friends and age, sex and being a parent are the same offline and online. Migrants who use internet are less likely to have close friends offline, but migrants who are Facebook users are more likely to have close friends online, suggesting that digital relationships may compensate for the potential lack of offline close friendships among older migrants. |
| Keywords: | Europe, old age, social capital, social network |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2020-035&r=all |
| By: | Arthur Seibold |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the large concentration of retirement behavior around statutory retirement ages, a puzzling stylized fact. To investigate this fact, I estimate bunching responses to 644 pension benefit discontinuities, using administrative data on the universe of German retirees. Financial incentives alone cannot explain retirement patterns, but there is a large direct effect of statutory retirement ages. I argue that the framing of statutory ages as reference points for retirement provides a plausible explanation. Simulations based on a model with reference dependence highlight that shifting statutory ages via pension reforms is an effective policy to influence retirement behavior. |
| Keywords: | Pensions, retirement, reference dependence |
| JEL: | H55 J26 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_226&r=all |
| By: | Marie-Louise Leroux; Pierre Pestieau |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the design of the optimal linear taxation of bequests when individuals differ in wage as well as in their risks of both mortality and old-age dependence. We assume that the government cannot distinguish between bequests motives, that is whether bequests resulted from precautionary reasons or from pure joy of giving reasons. Instead, we assume that it only observes the timing of bequests, that is whether they are made early in life or late in life. We show that, if the government is utilitarian, whether the taxation of early bequests should be given priority over the taxation of late bequests depends on the magnitude of insurance and redistributive concerns. While the efficiency concern unambiguously recommends taxation of early bequests, redistributive concerns yield ambiguous results. This indeterminacy comes from the fact that, in case of late death, the government cannot observe the health status of the deceased. Whether the taxation of early bequests should be given priority depends on the specific relationships between wages and both risks of early death and of old-age dependence, as well as on the concavity of the joy of giving utility function. If the government is Rawlsian, it is optimal to tax early bequests if the survival chances of the poorest agents are very low. If they survive, but their chances to remain autonomous are very low, it is then optimal to tax early bequests if the poorest agents contribute relatively less to the taxation of early bequests than to the taxation of late bequests or if the joy of giving utility is extremely concave. |
| Keywords: | bequest taxation, long term care, utilitarianism, Rawlsian welfare criterion, old-age dependency |
| JEL: | H21 H23 I14 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8642&r=all |
| By: | - |
| Abstract: | Todos los países están en riesgo de emergencias y desastres, incluidas las enfermedades infecciosas como la pandemia por COVID-19, y comparten la profundidad del impacto en salud y los derechos humanos en general. En este documento se analiza la situación de las personas mayores de la subregión (Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Haití, Honduras, Nicaragua, México, Panamá y la República Dominicana). Se cubre un amplio espectro de indicadores que demuestran que la condición de vulnerabilidad de la población adulta mayor ante la pandemia no radica únicamente en la edad, sino también en las condiciones en que vive, el alcance de la protección social y la fortaleza de los mecanismos de protección de sus derechos humanos. Asimismo, se identifican los desafíos que surgen del envejecimiento, tomando en cuenta la heterogeneidad del cambio demográfico en cada uno de los países. Se concluye que la pandemia, pese a sus devastadores efectos en la vida y la salud, ofrece oportunidades de cooperación e integración subregional para mejorar su capacidad de prevención y mitigación del impacto de la pandemia en las personas mayores. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, VIRUS, EPIDEMIAS, ENFERMEDADES VIROSICAS, ASPECTOS SOCIALES, DERECHOS ECONOMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES, ENVEJECIMIENTO DE LA POBLACION, ANCIANOS, SEGURIDAD SOCIAL, SALUD, INGRESOS, COHESION SOCIAL, DERECHOS HUMANOS, POLITICA SOCIAL, PROGRAMAS DE ACCION, ENCUESTAS, COVID-19, VIRUSES, EPIDEMICS, VIRAL DISEASES, SOCIAL ASPECTS, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING, AGEING PERSONS, SOCIAL SECURITY, HEALTH, INCOME, SOCIAL COHESION, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL POLICY, SOCIAL POLICY, PROGRAMMES OF ACTION, SURVEYS |
| Date: | 2020–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col094:46182&r=all |
| By: | Koch, Insa; Fransham, Mark; Cant, Sarah; Ebrey, Jill; Glucksberg, Luna; Savage, Mike |
| Abstract: | Social security systems confront a central tension: how to reconcile welfare retrenchment with the political challenges of implementing unpopular reforms. One way in which policy makers have responded to this tension is by repurposing existing institutions to serve new ends. We investigate the system of Universal Credit (UC) in the UK as an example of such a ‘conversion’. UC expands the reach of ‘active citizenship’ policies to a much larger population than ever before. However, far from producing uniform outcomes, UC’s implementation has been marked by chaos and ultimately failure for individuals and communities. We argue that UC exemplifies a broader shift from social security to state- sanctioned social insecurity as policy reforms come to mimic the insecurities and risks commonly associated with the market. |
| Keywords: | Universal credit; austerity; active citizenship; policy conversion; social security; welfare states; mixed methods; forthcoming |
| JEL: | E6 |
| Date: | 2020–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:107017&r=all |