nep-age New Economics Papers
on Economics of Ageing
Issue of 2022‒10‒31
seventeen papers chosen by
Claudia Villosio
LABORatorio R. Revelli

  1. Labor Supply and the Pension Contribution-Benefit Link By French, E.; Lindner, A.; O'Dea, C.; Zawisza T.
  2. Health Transition after Retirement: Empirical evidence from public pension reform in Japan (Japanese) By CHEN Fengming; WAKABAYASHI Midori; YUDA Michio
  3. Early retirement provision for elderly displaced workers By Herman Kruse; Andreas Myhre
  4. Life Cycle Savings in a High-Informality Setting—Evidence from Pakistan By Joubert,Clement Jean Edouard; Kanth,Priyanka
  5. Pension Funds and Financial Repression By Richard Mark Davis; Fiona Stewart; Peter Knaack
  6. Pension Wealth and the Gender Wealth Gap By Cordova, Karla; Grabka, Markus M.; Sierminska, Eva
  7. Are the grandparents alright? The health consequences of grandparental childcare provision By Peter Eibich; Xianhua Zai
  8. Asian Provident Funds By Richard Jackson; Evan Inglis
  9. A Field Study of Age Discrimination in the Workplace: The Importance of Gender and Race. Pay the Gap By Drydakis, Nick; Paraskevopoulou, Anna; Bozani, Vasiliki
  10. A Silver Lining By World Bank
  11. Kyrgyz Republic Public Expenditure Review By World Bank
  12. Blood and Gender Bias in Informal Care within the Family? By Canta, Chiara; Pestieau, Pierre; Schoenmaeckers, Jérôme
  13. Distributional Policies and Social Cohesion in a High-Unemployment Setting By Agüero,Jorge M.; Fasola,Eniola
  14. The Welfare Economics of Reference Dependence By Daniel Reck; Arthur Seibold
  15. Communicating Social Security Reform By Søren Leth-Petersen; Andrew Caplin; Eungik Lee; Johan Sæverud
  16. Una Propuesta de Revalorización de las Pensiones más justa para los más Vulnerables y para los Jóvenes By José Ignacio Conde-Ruiz; Manuel Díaz Mendoza
  17. Aging population and agricultural sustainability issues: case of Turkey By Şinasi Akdemir; Elpidio Kougnigan; Fersin Keskin; Handan Vuruş Akçaöz; İsmet Boz; İlkay Kutlar; Yann Emmanuel Sonagnon Miassi; Güsel Küsek; Metin Türker

  1. By: French, E.; Lindner, A.; O'Dea, C.; Zawisza T.
    Abstract: We estimate the impact of public pension systems on labor supply far from the normal retirement age by exploiting Poland's switch from a Defined Benefit to a Notional Defined Contribution scheme for men born after 1948. Using the universe of taxpayers and this sharp cohort-based discontinuity in the link between current contributions and future benefits, we estimate an employment elasticity with respect to the return to work of 0.44 for ages 51-54. We estimate a lifecycle model that matches these results. The model implies that the change in the contribution-benefit link from the reform increases employment among those in their 30s but decreases it at older ages, reducing overall labor supply across the lifecycle by 2 months.
    Keywords: Labor supply, pensions, contribution-benefit link, defined benefit, defined contribution
    JEL: D15 H55 J22 J26
    Date: 2022–08–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2248&r=
  2. By: CHEN Fengming; WAKABAYASHI Midori; YUDA Michio
    Abstract: Considering the balance between maintaining and improving the health, quality of life and healthy life expectancy of the elderly and their corresponding social costs such as medical and long-term care are important issues in light of the arrival of the super-aging society in Japan. We use the individual panel data from the four waves of the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement from 2007 to 2013 to examine how retirement from the labor market affects the health transition of elderly males. We use a fixed-effect instrumental variable estimation using a policy change in the pensionable age of public pension benefits as the instrumental variable to control the endogeneity in retirement decision. Many previous empirical studies have shown mixed results on the causal effect of retirement on health because there are many complex mechanisms, and we find that retirement significantly improves oral function and mental health but makes retirees more susceptible to lifestyle-related diseases. Moreover, our supplemental results indicate that i) a significant increase in dentistry utilization after retirement would contribute to improved oral health including improvement in chewing capacity, ii) freedom from labor leads to improved mental health, and that iii) fewer opportunities for health checkups lead to the development of lifestyle-related diseases.
    Date: 2022–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:22034&r=
  3. By: Herman Kruse (Statistics Norway); Andreas Myhre
    Abstract: This paper studies the economic effects on re-employment and program substitution behavior among elderly displaced workers who exogenously lose eligibility for their early retirement option. We use detailed Norwegian matched employer-employee data containing information on bankruptcy dates and individual-level wealth, income, pensions and social security benefits. Our empirical strategy employs a regression discontinuity design, as job displacement before a certain age cut-off results in the loss of eligibility for early retirement benefits between ages 62–67 years in Norway. We find that re-employment rates are indistinguishable between workers who just retain eligibility for early retirement benefits and those who just do not. Meanwhile, those who lose eligibility offset 69% of their lost benefits through take-up of other social security benefits, where 51 percentage points comes from disability insurance and 13 percentage points from unemployment insurance. Our findings are particularly policy relevant as tightening of age-limits for old-age pensions is on the agenda in several OECD countries, while current economic hardship throughout the region may lead to increased job displacement for elderly workers.
    Keywords: early retirement; job displacement; labor supply; benefit substitution; social security
    JEL: H55 I38 J14 J26 J65
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:985&r=
  4. By: Joubert,Clement Jean Edouard; Kanth,Priyanka
    Abstract: The combined forces of population aging, weakening family and village risk-sharing networks,and low formal pension coverage will make financing elderly consumption a major challenge for the future. This studyexamines whether households in high-informality settings, where participation in pension schemes is rare, accumulatewealth over the life cycle and what mix of assets and liabilities composes that wealth. Pakistan is an idealsetting, with 88.5 percent of the population in informal employment and limited wide-scale social protectiontargeting the elderly. Data on housing wealth, land holdings, financial wealth, household durables, and ownedbusinesses are assembled from eight rounds of representative household surveys that span 18 years (2001–18). Changesassociated with age are disentangled from differences between cohorts and year effects by applying decompositionanalysis. The average informal Pakistani household accumulates 4.2 years’ worth of consumption between thehead’s ages of 25 and 65, mostly in the form of residential housing. Wealth accumulation is slower early in the lifecycle and picks up speed between ages 40 and 65. Land is an important part of rural households’ portfolio but growslittle over the life cycle (10 months’ worth). More liquid forms of wealth such as financial wealth also grow with age,but in much more modest amounts. Overall, consistent with improving living standards and expectations that familysupport may be less available than in the past, the fraction that reaches old age with significant net worth hasincreased over the period analyzed, suggesting a potential demand for long-term saving schemes designed for theinformal sector.
    Date: 2022–07–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10121&r=
  5. By: Richard Mark Davis; Fiona Stewart; Peter Knaack
    Keywords: Public Sector Development - Public Financial Management Finance and Financial Sector Development - Capital Markets and Capital Flows Finance and Financial Sector Development - Debt Markets Finance and Financial Sector Development - Strategic Debt Management Social Protections and Labor - Pensions & Retirement Systems Social Protections and Labor - Social Funds and Pensions
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35584&r=
  6. By: Cordova, Karla (Pomona College); Grabka, Markus M. (DIW Berlin); Sierminska, Eva (LISER (CEPS/INSTEAD))
    Abstract: We examine the gender wealth gap with a focus on pension wealth and statutory pension rights. By taking into account employment characteristics of women and men, we are able to identify the extent to which the redistributive effect of pension rights reduces the gender wealth gap. The data for our analysis come from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), one of the few surveys collecting information on wealth and pension entitlements at the individual level. Pension wealth data are available in the SOEP for 2012 only. While the relative raw gender wealth gap is about 35% (or 31,000 euros) when analysing the standard measure of net worth, it shrinks to 28% when pension wealth is added. This reduction is due to redistributive elements such as caregiver credits provided through the statutory pension scheme. Results of a recentered influence functions (RIF) decomposition show that pension wealth reduces the gap substantially in the lower half of the distribution. At the 90th percentile, the gender wealth gap in net worth and in augmented wealth remains more stable at roughly 27-30%.
    Keywords: gender wealth gap, pension entitlements, Germany, redistribution, SOEP
    JEL: H55 D31 J16
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15563&r=
  7. By: Peter Eibich (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Xianhua Zai (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)
    Abstract: This paper examines the causal effect of childcare provision on grandparents’ health in the US. We propose the sex ratio among older adults’ children as a novel instrument for grandparental childcare provision. Our instrument is rooted in the demographic literature on grandparenthood and exploits that parents of daughters transition to grandparenthood earlier and invest more in their grandchildren than parents of sons. We estimate 2SLS regressions using data from the Health and Retirement Study. The results suggest that childcare provision is not beneficial for grandparents’ health and may even be detrimental for physical functioning and subjective health.
    Keywords: America, child care, health
    JEL: J1 Z0
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2022-023&r=
  8. By: Richard Jackson; Evan Inglis
    Keywords: Finance and Financial Sector Development - Mutual Funds Social Protections and Labor - Pensions & Retirement Systems
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35236&r=
  9. By: Drydakis, Nick; Paraskevopoulou, Anna; Bozani, Vasiliki
    Abstract: The study examines whether age intersects with gender and race during the initial stage of the hiring process and affects access to vacancies outcomes and wage sorting. In order to answer the research question the study collects data from four simultaneous field experiments in England. The study compares the labour market outcomes of younger White British men with those of older White British men and women, and with those of older Black British men and women. The study concentrates on low-skilled vacancies in hospitality and sales in the private sector. The results of this study indicate that older White British men and women, as well as older Black British men and women, experience occupational access constraints and are sorted into lower-paid jobs than younger White British men. The level of age discrimination is found to be higher for Black British men and women. In addition, Black British women experience the highest level of age discrimination. These patterns may well be in-line with prejudices against racial minority groups and stereotypical sexist beliefs that the physical strengths and job performance of women decline earlier than they do for men. This research presents for the first-time comparisons of access to vacancies and wage sorting between younger male racial majorities and older male racial majorities, older female racial majorities, older male racial minorities, and older female racial minorities. In addition, the driven mechanism of the assigned differences is explored. Because the study has attempted to minimise the negative employer stereotypes vis-à-vis older employees, with respect to their motivation, productivity, and health, such prejudices against older individuals may be considered Taste-based discrimination. If prejudices against older individuals are present, then anti-discrimination legislation may be the appropriate response, especially for racial minorities and women. Eliminating age discrimination in selection requires firms to adopt inclusive HR policies at the earliest stages of the recruitment process.
    Keywords: Age Discrimination,Women,Racial Minorities,Intersectionality,Access to Occupations,Wages
    JEL: C93 C9 J14 J1
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1170&r=
  10. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Social Protections and Labor - Employment and Unemployment Social Protections and Labor - Labor Markets Social Protections and Labor - Labor Policies Social Protections and Labor - Pensions & Retirement Systems Social Protections and Labor - Social Protections & Assistance
    Date: 2020–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34887&r=
  11. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Public Sector Development - Public Sector Expenditure Policy Education - Education Finance Health, Nutrition and Population - Health Economics & Finance Social Protections and Labor - Pensions & Retirement Systems
    Date: 2021–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35790&r=
  12. By: Canta, Chiara; Pestieau, Pierre (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium); Schoenmaeckers, Jérôme
    Abstract: This paper deals with the question of the relative contribution of children to the informal long- term care of their dependent parents. Starting from a theoretical model and using SHARE data, the paper focuses on the role of gender and blood relationships as well as the effect of differential opportunity costs within the couple. The results tend to confirm the existence of gender and blood biases in the level of informal care provided, whereas the probability of providing any care is only affected by the blood bias. If children are working, their time devoted to informal care decreases with their wage. There is no difference in the level of care provided by single children and married children. Finally, when only couples are considered, gender and blood biases are confirmed but the wage ratio has no impact on the relative level of informal care of the spouses. These results have two main policy implications: tagging public LTC transfers on the gender of children, and the adjustment of public LTC transfers to different levels of insurance coverage.
    Keywords: Informal long-term care ; couple decision-making ; altruism
    JEL: D1 D6 H21 H31
    Date: 2021–11–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2021015&r=
  13. By: Agüero,Jorge M.; Fasola,Eniola
    Abstract: This paper studies the impact of distributional policies on social cohesion. The focus is onSouth Africa, a country with the highest unemployment rate worldwide and a major destination hub for the forciblydisplaced. The paper uses a regression discontinuity design based on the eligibility rule of an unconditional cashtransfer program (Old Age Pension) together with multiple rounds of the country’s Social Attitudes Survey andestimates the impact of the cash transfer to the local population on over 100 variables capturing differentdimensions of social cohesion, while accounting for multiple hypothesis testing. Results show a limited impact of thetransfer on social cohesion. Transfer increases life satisfaction and views favorable towards racial diversity.However, it has only a marginal effect on interpersonal trust and a very small effect on attitudes towardsimmigration. These findings are consistent with theoretical models where anti-immigrant behaviors are not the result oflow-income but rather due to non-wage factors such as ethnic background or language barriers.
    Date: 2022–06–23
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10103&r=
  14. By: Daniel Reck; Arthur Seibold
    Abstract: Empirical evidence suggests that individuals often evaluate options relative to a reference point, especially seeking to avoid losses. In this paper, we provide the first welfare analysis under reference-dependent preferences. We decompose the welfare impact of changes in reference points and prices into direct and behavioral effects, and describe how these effects depend on whether reference dependence reflects a bias or a normative preference. In a simple model of loss aversion grounded in common empirical findings, we find that lowering reference points robustly improves welfare, while the welfare effect of a price change depends critically on normative judgments. We also derive sufficient statistics characterizations of the welfare effects of changing reference points and prices. We illustrate these theoretical findings with an empirical application to reference dependence exhibited in German workers’ retirement decisions. Both simulation and sufficient statistics results suggest positive welfare effects of increasing the Normal Retirement Age, but ambiguous effects of financial incentives to postpone retirement. Finally, we study how adopting alternative models of reference dependent preferences modifies key welfare effects.
    Keywords: reference-dependent preferences, loss aversion, welfare, pension reform
    JEL: D91 D60 H55 J26
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9999&r=
  15. By: Søren Leth-Petersen (Department of Economics and Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI), University of Copenhagen and CEPR); Andrew Caplin (Department of Economics, New York University, NBER and Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI)); Eungik Lee (Department of Economics, New York University); Johan Sæverud (Department of Economics and Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI), University of Copenhagen)
    Abstract: Despite its centrality in monetary policy design, policy communication is not a focus in other important areas, such as social security reform. Might improved communication lower the widespread confusion about the future of social security that has been identified worldwide? To answer this question we implement a simple information treatment in Denmark which in 2006 replaced universal social security eligibility at age 65 with longevity-based eligibility. We measure probabilistic beliefs about eligibility age both with and without this treatment, which is strikingly simple: we actively communicate the longevity-based plan as currently available on the official Website. We find that treatment essentially removes anchoring in the past. Average beliefs of those who are treated are significantly different of those who are not, and align well with current policy plans. Our results implicate poor communication as a primary source of confusion and highlight the widespread need to treat communication strategies as integral to policy.
    Keywords: social security, belief updating, information treatment, policy uncertainty
    JEL: D8 H55 J26
    Date: 2022–10–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2219&r=
  16. By: José Ignacio Conde-Ruiz; Manuel Díaz Mendoza
    Abstract: En el debate de la revalorización de las pensiones se están mezclando dos cuestiones que habría que tratar por separado. Por un lado, la sostenibilidad de las pensiones que es un problema estructural aun no resuelto y, por otro lado, la revalorización de las pensiones por el IPC en un momento tan excepcional como el actual, con la inflación disparada. El primero va a requerir una reforma en profundidad de nuestro sistema de pensiones para adaptarlo a la nueva realidad demográfica. El segundo hay que analizando ateniendo a la excepcionalidad del momento.
    Date: 2022–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdafen:2022-25&r=
  17. By: Şinasi Akdemir (Cukurova University); Elpidio Kougnigan (Cukurova University); Fersin Keskin; Handan Vuruş Akçaöz (Akdeniz University); İsmet Boz; İlkay Kutlar (Akdeniz University); Yann Emmanuel Sonagnon Miassi (Cukurova University); Güsel Küsek; Metin Türker
    Abstract: Agriculture is a sector that is widely known to be impacted not only by the natural conditions of a country but also by other economic and political sectors. Turkish agriculture, in a context marked in recent years by a rural exodus of young people, marks the vagueness of the current state of the agricultural sector and its future. It is with this in mind that this research was carried out, based on a questionnaire survey of 312 producers in 5 provinces of Turkey, to assess the impact of the ageing of the rural population on the agricultural sector. The results of this study show that with age, producers invest less in agricultural activity, altogether abandoning productions requiring more labour. The possibility of taking over the family farm by descendants plays an important role in the degree of involvement of producers. Through these findings, this study makes it possible to address targeted agricultural policies according to age stages.
    Keywords: Aging farming population,Farm succession,Impact,Farming sustainability,Turkey
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03776653&r=

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