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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Arpino, Bruno; Tosi, Marco; Bordone, Valeria |
| Abstract: | Objectives. We aim to provide updated, comparative evidence on the prevalence of frequent contact (including digital) and close proximity between older parents and their children, and to assess how measurement choices affect cross-national patterns in Europe. Methods. We use data on 23 European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe wave 9 (2021–2022) and the European Social Survey round 10 (2020–2022) to estimate the prevalence of frequent contact and close proximity across different approaches: most-contacted versus random child, any versus mode-specific contact, distance versus travel-time thresholds. Cross-national coherence is assessed with Spearman rank correlations and Kendall’s W. Results. We find a pronounced regional gradient: Southern Europe shows the highest levels of frequent contact and close proximity, Nordic and Continental countries the lowest, and Eastern Europe are in-between with internal heterogeneity. Digital communication is part of the intergenerational repertoire, albeit not clearly geographically patterned. Face-to-face and phone contacts remain dominant; texting is less widespread, while video calls remain rare. Measurement choices substantially shift prevalence levels but much less the ranking of countries that remains consistent also when adjusting for socio-demographics. Discussion. We document persistent family-regime differences and highlight digital contact as a supplementary facet of associational solidarity. Results point to risks of a double exclusion for older adults who lack face-to-face contact and cannot exploit digital tools and underscore that survey design choices matter for levels but not ranking-based comparisons, supporting the use of random-child items in general surveys. |
| Date: | 2026–01–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:uqept_v1 |
| By: | Vomitadyo, Innocent |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360811 |
| By: | Silvia Matalone; Michele Belloni; Ludovico Carrino; Elena Meschi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of job quality on the physical and mental health of older European workers. We combine longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with occupation- and country-level job-quality measures from the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) for 14 European countries. To address endogenous occupational sorting, we focus on workers who remain within the same 3-digit ISCO occupation across waves, and estimate individual fixed-effects models that exploit exogenous within-occupation changes in working conditions over time. We find that deteriorations in job quality significantly worsen health outcomes. In particular, higher work intensity, poorer working time quality, and weaker job prospects reduce mental health and selected physical health outcomes. Pronounced gender heterogeneity emerges: women’s mental health is more sensitive to changes in work intensity and working time quality, while men’s health is more consistently affected by job discretion, including cardiovascular risk. Institutional context further moderates these effects, with smaller health penalties in countries with stronger healthcare capacity, stricter employment protection, and more comprehensive occupational health and safety regulation. Overall, the findings highlight the role of labour market conditions as causal determinants of health and the importance of integrated policy responses in ageing societies. |
| Keywords: | Working conditions, physical and mental health, healthcare systems and institutions |
| JEL: | I1 J01 J28 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:567 |
| By: | Arpita Khanna (National University of Singapore); Minhaj Mahmud (Asian Development Bank); Nidhiya Menon (Brandeis University) |
| Abstract: | This study empirically investigates the impact of climate change on the incidence of noncommunicable diseases among older population in India. Using demographic and health surveys from 2019–2021 linked with georeferenced meteorological data at local levels, and a specification that controls for long-term local climate trends as well as individual and household characteristics, we show that unanticipated heat shocks have significant impacts on the prevalence of hypertension, high blood glucose levels, and overweight or obese status. The impact of heat shock on hypertension is somewhat more evident among urban, lower caste, and lower educated men, while the impact on glucose levels is more pronounced among the higher educated in urban settings. Body mass index is particularly sensitive to heat shocks in older rural women and individuals with higher education. Engagement in occupations more exposed to outdoor work (agriculture/manual) and lifestyle factors tied to wealth status are some explanatory mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | climate;temperature;older people;blood pressure;glucose level;BMI;India |
| JEL: | Q54 I12 J14 O13 |
| Date: | 2026–01–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:022142 |
| By: | Elert, Niklas (Institute of Retail Economics (HFI)); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Welfare services such as healthcare, elderly care, and education are key to ensuring quality of life generally, and vital for rural communities across urbanizing countries. While these sectors are largely tax-financed, several countries have established quasi-markets to achieve competition through private entry to unleash entrepreneurship, efficiency, and service provision innovation. The reforms notwithstanding, productivity improvements are modest, and the situation seems particularly bad in some rural communities. We argue that quasi-markets can only live up to expectations if the local institutional framework considers sectoral and local conditions. While competition and the profit motive are necessary conditions for local quasi-market entrepreneurship and innovation, they are not sufficient but require a set of complementary institutions that are epistemic in nature. These epistemic institutions enable users to make informed choices while simultaneously incentivizing entrepreneurs to compete and innovate along the dimensions that users value. Moreover, if the catchment area includes densely populated areas, rural communities may attract users from communities where costs are higher, thus creating new comparative advantages locally. As an illustration, we analyze the Swedish quasi-market for nursing homes for the elderly. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Innovation policy; Marketized care; Quasi-markets; Welfare services |
| JEL: | H42 H44 H75 I22 I28 L88 O31 |
| Date: | 2026–01–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1549 |