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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Gustafsson, Johan (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Lanot, Gauthier (Department of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of improved automation on the size and distribution of pension benefits, and on the optimal size of public pension systems. To this end, we build an overlapping generations model with heterogeneous agents. Automation is either conceptualized in a capital-skill complementarity (CSC) or task-based (TB) fashion. We find that any productivity gains of automation realized as increased returns to savings disproportionately benefit high-skilled workers who are less dependent on illiquid public pensions. A redistributive pension system can reduce public pension inequality but increase inequality in private retirement savings. The optimal size of the pension system is larger in the TB specification where displacement effects of automation are accounted for. We do not find that automation-driven growth warrants any change to the optimal size of the public pension system. |
| Keywords: | Automation; General Equilibrium; Overlapping Generations; Public Pensions |
| JEL: | H55 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2024–11–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:1030 |
| By: | Svend E. Hougaard Jensen; David Pinkus; Nina Ruer |
| Abstract: | A comprehensive study of the long-term care (LTC) systems in Germany, France, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:wpaper:node_10560 |
| By: | Kenneth Nelson; Johan Fritzell |
| Abstract: | This paper examines global trends in old-age income, wealth, and poverty, highlighting disparities between high-income countries and the Global South. Using data from the Luxembourg Income Study and other sources, we show that robust pension systems in affluent countries seem to protect large fractions of older people from poverty, while limited coverage in less prosperous countries leaves many vulnerable. Wealth distribution and multidimensional factors, such as health and living conditions, are essential in understanding economic security in later life, particularly for low-income households in the Global South. Policy must consider the varied challenges faced by ageing populations across socio-economic contexts. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:891 |
| By: | Minh Tam Bui; Ivo Vlaev; Katsushi Imai |
| Abstract: | Ageing society poses an increasing need for elderly care and the essential role of unpaid family care in developing countries where more care burdens are imposed on women. Literature on the driver of gender care gap is limited and its association with social gender norms is both understudied and hardly measured/quantified. Using time-use data in 2014-15 and Labor Force Survey data in 2013-15 from Thailand, we first construct an altruistic time ratio for the whole sample to measure the extent to which individuals spend time on unpaid activities for others than themselves. We found that significant gender gaps in providing eldercare are associated with gender differences in altruistic time ratio. To consider the non-random selection for the elderly care, we then estimate the Tobit model with propensity score matching (PSM) for both elderly carers and non-carers and found that the social gender norm, defined as the district-level gender difference in the modes of altruistic time ratio, explains why women are more burdened with elderly care than men. To examine the underlying mechanisms behind women’s time burden, we estimate a simultaneous equation Tobit consisting of elderly care time, leisure time, and time for paid work. The results show that the social gender norm indirectly reduces elderly care time for women by significantly reducing leisure time and paid work time, while the direct effect is dominant for men. The trade-off between paid work time and elderly care time is similar for men and for women, while that between leisure time and elderly care time is greater for men. Associations between elderly care and altruism or peer pressure imply that behavioural changes with a focus on social norms and social policies inducing such changes are important to achieve more gender-equitable eldercare provision besides the state provision of long-term care. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:2403 |
| By: | Matthias Hans Belau |
| Abstract: | Background - Adverse socioeconomic conditions at the individual and regional levels are associated with an increased risk of mortality. However, few studies have examined this relationship using multilevel analysis and, if so, only within a single country. This study aimed to examine this relationship using data from several European countries. Methods - Individual-level data were obtained from Waves 5 to 9 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, while regional-level data were obtained from the Luxembourg Income Study Database. Cox regression analysis with gamma-shared frailty and a random intercept for country of residence was used to examine the association between individual mortality from all causes, cancer, heart attack, and stroke and measures of socioeconomic deprivation at the individual level, including material and social deprivation indices, and at the area level, including the Gini index. Results - The risk of mortality from all causes was increased for respondents with material deprivation (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.77, 95% CI = [1.60, 1.96]) and social deprivation (HR = 7.63, 95% CI = [6.42, 9.07]) compared with those without. A similar association was observed between individual deprivation and the risk of mortality from cancer, heart attack, or stroke. Regional deprivation had a modest contextual effect on the individual risk of death from all causes and cancer. However, when individual-level deprivation was included in the models, no contextual effects were found. Conclusions - The results indicate that individual socioeconomic conditions significantly predict causes of death in older European adults, with those with material deprivation and social deprivation having a higher risk of death from all causes, including cancer, heart attack, and stroke, while the Gini index has a minimal effect, although the Gini index reflects regional disparities across Europe. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:890 |
| By: | John Armstrong; James Dalby; Catherine Donnelly |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the performance of and level of intergenerational cross subsidy in single-employer and multi-employer collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes which have been designed to be compatible with UK legislation. The single-employer scheme captures the essential features of the Royal Mail CDC scheme, which is currently the only UK CDC scheme. We find that the schemes can be successful in smoothing pension outcomes while outperforming a DC + annuity scheme, but that this outperformance is not guaranteed in a single-employer scheme. There are significant intergenerational cross-subsidies in the single-employer scheme. These qualitatively mirror the cross-subsidies seen in existing defined benefit schemes, but we find the magnitude of the cross-subsidies is much larger in single employer CDC schemes. The multi-employer scheme is intended to minimize such cross-subsidies, but we find that such subsidies still arise due to the approximate pricing methodology implicit in the scheme design. These cross-subsidies tend to cancel out over time, but in any given year they can be large, implying that it is important to use a rigorous pricing methodology when valuing collective pension investments. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2411.13565 |
| By: | Yunho Cho (Jinan University); Jiseob Kim (Yonsei University); Julie Kim (University of Wisconsin Madison) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates consumption responses to idiosyncratic income shocks, focusing on the elderly in Korea—an economy with the highest old-age poverty rate among developed nations. Using a semi-structural model of income and consumption dynamics alongside household survey data from Korea, the U.S., and Australia, we find that Korean elderly households exhibit consumption responses to permanent income shocks that are 30 percentage points higher than those of middle-aged households in Korea and 57 percentage points higher than those of elderly households in the U.S. and Australia. These large consumption responses are primarily driven by the low wealth elderly, who lack sufficient self-insurance. Our findings emphasize the significant role of poverty, which remains highly persistent throughout the life cycle in Korea, in undermining the elderly’s ability to maintain consumption insurance, thereby deteriorating their welfare. Furthermore, our results highlight the critical role of government transfers in providing consumption insurance for the elderly. |
| Keywords: | Consumption Responses; Income Risks; Old-Age Poverty |
| JEL: | C13 C33 D12 D14 E21 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yon:wpaper:2024rwp-234 |
| By: | Margolis, Louis; Perona, Mathieu |
| Abstract: | En partenariat avec la Chaire TDTE, nous examinons pour la seconde fois le bien-être des adhérents de l’UMR autour de l’âge de la retraite. Contrairement à ce que nous observons pour la moyenne des Français passant à la retraire, le niveau de bien-être subjectif chez ces adhérents est plus élevé chez les jeunes retraités que chez les actifs seniors. Cette différence est particulièrement marquée entre enseignants en fin de carrière et jeunes retraités de l’enseignement. Si les circonstances matérielles du départ à la retraite des professeurs jouent un rôle, l’ampleur des résultats suggère que les enseignants en fin de carrière n’échappent pas au mal-être professionnel documenté chez leurs collègues plus jeunes – leur niveau élevé de défiance envers leur ministère de tutelle venant corroborer cette explication. Le recul de l’âge de départ à la retraite, qui concerne une partie de la classe d’âge, vient également peser sur le bien-être des actifs seniors, y compris hors de l’enseignement. Pour autant, le passage à la retraite mérite d’être accompagné, en particulier pour favoriser la participation à des activités socialisées – associatives, sportives, bénévoles – dont cette vague vient confirmer la contribution au bien-être des retraités. |
| Keywords: | France, Well-Being, Retirement, Bien-être, Retraite, Enseignement |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:notobe:2415 |
| By: | Liam D'Hert; Louis Lippens; Stijn Baert (-) |
| Abstract: | Sustaining social security systems amidst an ageing population requires (re)integrating the unemployed and inactive into work. However, stigma surrounding non-employment history can create barriers to finding a job. Whilst unemployment stigma is well-documented, inactivity stigma remains under the radar. To address whether, why, and when inactivity hinders hiring, we employed a vignette experiment where real-life recruiters rated fictitious applicants with varying non-employment breaks on hireability and productivity. Results reveal employers rank candidates by their reason for being out of work: those with training breaks rank highest, followed by former caregivers, the previously ill and the unemployed, and last, the discouraged. Productivity perceptions match this pattern. Trainees score highest for skills, motivation, cognition, discipline, reliability, flexibility, and trainability. Caregivers excel in perceived social skills but fall short on flexibility. The previously ill are seen as more motivated than the unemployed but likely raise health concerns. The discouraged trigger the harshest stigma, particularly for motivation and self-discipline. Longer lapses hurt hiring chances, but not for training breaks. |
| Keywords: | career break, unemployment, inactivity, hiring chances, factorial survey experiment |
| JEL: | C91 E24 J21 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:24/1100 |