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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Iris Kesternich; Bettina Siflinger; James P. Smith; Franziska Valder |
| Abstract: | Based on a sample of elderly individuals from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, we investigate the relationship between job and marital stability over the life cycle. We argue that an unobserved, time-varying social skill affects stability in both markets. Using a grouped fixed-effects estimator, we show that unobserved relationship stability in both markets is significantly and positively associated. Instability in both markets is associated with lower levels of trust and conscientiousness and higher levels of extraversion and neuroticism. The absence of the father during childhood perpetuates higher instability later in life. Higher instability is also costly since it is associated with lower levels of late-life well-being. |
| Keywords: | relationship stability, marriage dissolution, job turnover, social skills, non-cognitive skills, grouped fixed-effect estimator, survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe |
| JEL: | J12 J24 J63 I31 C33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11198 |
| By: | Charles Yuji Horioka (Center for Computational Social Science and Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Asian Growth Research Institute, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, and National Bureau of Economic Research, JAPAN); Luigi Ventura (Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza, University of Rome, ITALY) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the saving motives of European households using micro-data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), which is conducted by the European Central Bank. We find that the rank ordering of saving motives differs greatly depending on what criterion is used to rank them. For example, we find that the precautionary motive is the most important saving motive of European households when the proportion of households saving for each motive is used as the criterion to rank them but that the retirement motive is the most important saving motive of European households if the quantitative importance of each motive is taken into account. Moreover, the generosity of social safety nets seems to affect the importance of each saving motive, with saving for the retirement motive being less important in countries with generous public pension benefits and saving for the precautionary motive being less important in countries with generous health systems. These findings suggest that the retirement motive and the precautionary motive are the dominant motives for saving in Europe partly because social safety nets are not fully adequate. Our finding that saving motives that are consistent with the selfish life-cycle model as well as saving motives that are consistent with the altruism model are important in Europe implies that the two models coexist in Europe, as is the case in other parts of the world. However, our finding that the retirement motive, which is the saving motive that most exemplifies the selfish life-cycle model, is of dominant importance in Europe strongly suggests that this model is far more applicable in Europe than is the altruism model. Moreover, our finding that the intergenerational transfers motive, which is the saving motive that most exemplifies the altruism model, accounts for only about one-quarter of total household wealth in Europe provides further corroboration for this finding. |
| Keywords: | Altruism model; Bequests; European Central Bank; Household Finance and Consumption Survey; Households; Household saving; Household wealth; Inheritances; Inter vivos transfers; Intergenerational transfers; Precautionary saving; Retirement; Saving; Saving motives; Selfish life-cycle model; Wealth; Wealth-to-income ratio |
| JEL: | D12 D14 D15 D64 E21 J14 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2024-26 |
| By: | Charles Yuji Horioka; Emin Gahramanov; Xueli Tang |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of the nexus between long-term care insurance (LTCI), formal care, informal (family) care, and bequests. In our empirical analysis, we use micro data from the Japan Household Panel Survey on Consumer Preferences and Satisfaction (JHPS-CPS), formerly known as the Preference Parameter Study, conducted by Osaka University. Japan is an interesting case to analyze because a public LTCI system was introduced there in 2000. Our analysis shows that, in the case of Japan, if parents are eligible for public LTCI benefits, their children will be less likely to be their primary caregiver and that this, in turn, will reduce their children’s perceived likelihood of receiving a bequest from them. This result implies that bequests are selfishly or strategically motivated (i.e., that parents leave bequests to their children in order to elicit care from them) and that the introduction of a public LTCI system will reduce the likelihood of children providing care to their parents and through this channel reduce their perceived likelihood of receiving a bequest from them. |
| JEL: | D11 D12 D15 D64 E21 I13 J14 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32744 |
| By: | Michael F. Lovenheim; Jun Hyun Yun |
| Abstract: | The U.S. healthcare system requires substantial out-of-pocket payments by most consumers, which can prevent some from receiving needed medical services. Recent policy proposals seek to address this problem by increasing government health care spending in order to reduce out-of-pocket costs. The social value of these policies rests in part on the extent to which consumers face credit constraints in financing medical spending. We present a novel analysis of whether elderly households face such credit constraints by estimating the effects of wealth variation from home price changes on out-of-pocket medical expenditures. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study and various measures of home price changes, we find no evidence that housing wealth impacts out-of-pocket medical spending. The estimates are universally small and precise, allowing us to rule out even modest-sized effects. Effects are zero across the expenditure distribution, for specific categories of expenditure, and for different types of consumers split by health insurance status and SES. Our results suggest that further subsidizing health care for elderly homeowners, the majority of older Americans, would increase moral hazard costs without increasing access to needed care. |
| JEL: | G51 I11 I14 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32729 |
| By: | Johannes Geyer; Peter Haan; Mia Teschner |
| Abstract: | The price for institutional long-term care is a central determinant of the demand for formal and informal long-term care. In this paper, we show how macroeconomic conditions affect these prices. The analysis is based on administrative data that contains rich information on the universe of nursing homes and ambulatory care services and about all recipients of long-term care benefits in Germany. For identification, we exploit variation in macroeconomic conditions measured by the unemployment rate across districts and over time, applying a panel data approach with facility and time fixed effects. Our empirical results show that a higher unemployment rate increases prices for permanent long-term care as well as for prices of accommodation and meals in nursing homes. We provide empirical evidence for the mechanism of these price effects. While we find that employment, working hours, and quality of care in nursing homes are not significantly affected by macroeconomic conditions, our results show that a higher unemployment rate increases the price of nursing homes through a change in the composition of patients: it induces a shift from care recipients with a low degree of impairment to patients with high demands for labor-intensive care. We also document a substitution of low-impairment care from nursing homes toward ambulatory and informal home care. |
| Keywords: | Long-Term Care, Nursing home prices, Unemployment rate, Macroeconomic Conditions, Informal care |
| JEL: | E32 I11 J20 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2096 |
| By: | Laura Buchinger; Theresa Entringer; David Richter; Gert G. Wagner; Denis Gerstorf; Wiebke Bleidorn |
| Abstract: | Since the new millennium, research in the field of personality development has focused on the stability and change of basic personality traits. Motivational aspects of personality and their longitudinal association with basic traits have received comparably little attention. In this preregistered study, we applied bivariate latent growth curve modeling to investigate the codevelopment of nine life goals and the Big Five traits. We tested age, perceived control, gender, educational background, and regional socialization as potential moderators of codevelopment. Data came from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (N = 55, 040, age range: 18-103 years) and span a study period of 13 years. During this period, the Big Five traits and life goals were assessed four times. Our findings suggest that development in broader life goal domains (e.g., self-fulfillment) is more strongly connected to personality development across the life span, whereas changes in specific goals (e.g., having children) are more closely tied to trait changes during young and middle adulthood. The strongest codevelopment was found between Openness and agentic goals with a focus on personal growth followed by codevelopment between Agreeableness and communal goals. Developmental stage and educational background moderated the codevelopment of Conscientiousness and economic achievement as well as family-related goals. Contrary to previous research, we found that Neuroticism codeveloped with communal life goals (i.e., having a happy relationship/marriage). Our findings reinforce theoretical frameworks that highlight the role of changing opportunities, constraints, and developmental tasks across adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Life goals, Big Five, longitudinal study, lifespan development, corresponsive principle |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1209 |
| By: | Roychowdhury, Punarjit |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the prevalence of depression and clinical depression among the elderly in India across groups with distinct social identities, where social identities are defined by caste and religious affiliations. Using nationally representative data, the study reveals no- table disparities. Compared to upper caste-Hindus (UC-Hindus), disadvantaged groups like Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) expe- rience more depression. Further, SCs and OBCs are also more likely to be clinically depressed than UC-Hindus; however, there is no significant difference in clinical depression likelihood between UC-Hindus and STs. The gaps in depression and clinical depression across social groups diminish when I control for socioeconomic status and disappear with further adjust- ments for life conditions and experiences, including childhood circumstances, experiences of discrimination, neighborhood characteristics, housing conditions and perceived deprivation. Surprisingly, after accounting for these factors, STs demonstrate the lowest likelihood of clinical depression among all groups. While this could be interpreted as suggesting that STs inherently have better mental health than others, a more plausible explanation is that they under-report the symptoms used in clinical depression diagnosis. |
| Keywords: | Depression, India, Mental Health, Social Identity |
| JEL: | I14 I15 I31 J14 O12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1466 |