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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Fabian Kindermann; Carla Krolage; Sebastian Kunz; Manuel Pannier; Karoline Ströhlein |
| Abstract: | This paper provides causal evidence on how pension income affects labor supply after retirement. We exploit the introduction of the German Earned Income Pension Credit (Grundrente), which permanently increased pension income for retirees with long contribution histories and comparatively low lifetime earnings. The reform generates exogenous variation in non-labor income without creating additional labor supply distortions, allowing us to isolate pure income effects. Using administrative data covering the universe of German retirees and a difference-in-differences design, we find that a 1, 200 euro increase in annual pension income reduces unconditional labor earnings by approximately 122 euros, implying a marginal propensity to earn out of unearned income of −0.1. Two thirds of this response reflects extensive margin adjustments, which operate through both increased exit and reduced re-entry, with the remainder driven by intensive margin reductions. Effects are stronger for younger, more labor-market-attached cohorts. |
| Keywords: | post-retirement labor supply, pension income, income effects, older workers, pension reform, Grundrente, labor force participation, administrative data |
| JEL: | H31 H55 J14 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12757 |
| By: | Arapakis, Karolos; French, Eric |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate the challenges of funding retirement in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. We first show that the pandemic had only modest effects on life expectancy and employment. These effects were small relative to longer term trends. Nevertheless, they worsened pension funding problems, highlighting the need for future pension reforms. Next, we highlight key evidence on how labor supply responds to pension reforms. Evidence suggests that incentivising later retirement can reduce pension deficits. |
| Keywords: | Retirement |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20739 |
| By: | Banks, James; French, Eric; McCauley, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the nature of long-term care for older adults with cognitive impairments in England. Long-term care (LTC), which in England is commonly referred to as adult social care, is care that supports daily activities of living for older and disabled individuals to enhance their quality of life. This includes care services ranging from nursing home stays to home-based assistance with tasks like washing, dressing, and eating. For older people with cognitive impairment, such as dementia for example, there may be additional specialized care and support that is necessary. This paper shows that the high care needs of older individuals is largely attributable to those with cognitive impairments: approximately half of the total care costs of the age 65+ population in England are attributable to the 8.5% of individuals with cognitive limitations. |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20783 |
| By: | French, Eric; Lindner, Attila; O’Dea, Cormac; Zawisza, Tom |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of public pension incentives 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 two months. |
| JEL: | D15 H55 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20742 |
| By: | Jacobs, Lindsay; Piyapromdee, Suphanit |
| Abstract: | Partial and reverse retirement are two key behaviors characterizing labor force dynamics for individuals at older ages, with half working part-time and over a third leaving and later re-entering the labor force at some point. The high rate of exit and re-entry is especially puzzling when considering the flat and declining wage profiles observed at older ages and uncertainty about future re-employment. Using Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, we document the timing and prevalence of these behaviors and show that reverse retirees resemble permanent retirees across many observables, but differ notably in reported job stress and polygenic scores linked to stress sensitivity. To understand what drives these behaviors, we develop and estimate a dynamic model of retirement that incorporates uncertainty in wages and health, along with a novel “burnout-recovery†process representing the accumulation and dissipation of work-related stress. The model replicates key patterns in the data, accounting for over two-thirds of reverse retirement and 40 percent of transitions to part-time work—patterns that cannot be explained by health or wealth shocks alone. Our findings suggest that reverse retirement is largely a predictable response to recoverable stress rather than a reaction to shocks. Policy simulations show that part-time subsidies and sabbaticals enhance labor force attachment and welfare by reducing burnout, while eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test raises re-entry but also increases stress exposure. Together, these findings highlight the central role of stress dynamics in shaping retirement behavior and inform the design of policies to support work at older ages. |
| Keywords: | Retirement; Mental health |
| JEL: | J26 I12 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20616 |
| By: | Banks, James; McCauley, Jeremy; French, Eric |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the state of Long-Term Care (LTC) in England. LTC, which is generally referred to in England as adult social care, supports activities of daily living for older and disabled individuals to improve their quality of life. This includes stays in nursing homes as well as home-based help with tasks such as washing, dressing, and feeding. |
| Keywords: | Long term care |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20740 |
| By: | Blundell, Richard; Britton, Jack; Costa Dias, Monica; French, Eric; Zou, Weijian |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), we estimate the impact of health on employment for individuals close to retirement age. Estimating the model separately by race and gender, we find that racial differences in employment can be partly explained by the worse health of minorities as well as the larger impact of health on employment for minorities. |
| Keywords: | Health; Employment; Race |
| JEL: | J26 J15 I14 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20782 |
| By: | Ndiaye, Abdoulaye; Yu, Zhixiu |
| Abstract: | Raising the retirement age is a common policy response when social security schemes face fiscal pressures. We develop and estimate a dynamic life cycle model to study optimal retirement and tax policy when individuals face health shocks and income risk and make endogenous retirement decisions. The model incorporates key features of Social Security, Medicare, income taxation, and savings incentives and distinguishes three channels through which health affects retirement: nonconvexities in labor supply due to health-dependent fixed costs of working, earnings reductions, and mortality risk. We estimate our model to match US microdata and show that labor supply nonconvexities play a dominant role in driving early retirement, making rigid increases in the retirement age welfare reducing. In contrast, more flexible policies, such as increasing the dependence of Social Security benefits on the claiming age, can improve welfare and pay for themselves with a fiscal surplus. We map a range of policy reforms to their marginal values of public funds (MVPFs), showing that certain incentives to delay claiming offer MVPFs of infinity while broad-based retirement age increases have negative willingness-to-pay. These findings offer novel retirement policy prescriptions and challenge the prevailing emphasis on raising the retirement age. |
| JEL: | H21 H55 J26 D15 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20322 |
| By: | Balázs Pálvölgyi; Dirk Neumann; Martijn Hoogeland; János Varga |
| Abstract: | Demographic ageing and slow growth are putting pressure on the sustainability of the German pension system as well as on the adequacy of pensions. This discussion paper takes stock of the functioning and challenges of the German pension system and provides an overview of the main reform options currently discussed in the public debate. In practice, a combination of reforms will be best suited to deliver on the objectives of fiscal sustainability, adequacy and social fairness. This combination could consist of (i) labour market reforms to increase hours worked and enable longer careers with fewer interruptions, thus contributing to increasing social security contributions, (ii) adjusting pension indexation by accounting for demographic ageing in particular, (iii) increasing the effective retirement age by reducing early retirement pathways and raising the statutory retirement age, and (iv) an enhanced role for supplementary pensions. |
| JEL: | J26 J32 H55 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:dispap:250 |
| By: | Rong Fu; Sizhe Liu; Toshiaki Iizuka; Haruko Noguchi |
| Abstract: | Japan has the world’s oldest population and a universal Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system, yet how care use and costs differ between cognitive and physical impairment remains underexamined. Using the nationally representative Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions (2016 and 2019 waves; 324, 466 adults aged 65 and older), we compare the utilization, intensity, and cost of long-term care across three groups: those with a dementia diagnosis (defined as regularly receiving medical treatment for dementia), those with physical (ADL) limitations but no dementia, and those with neither. A dementia diagnosis is associated with dramatically higher care use—75.3% receive some care, versus 5.3% of the unimpaired reference group. In models adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, dementia raises the probability of receiving formal care by 55 percentage points and informal care by 52 percentage points—roughly double the effects of ADL limitations—and, conditional on use, is associated with about 113 additional hours of formal care per month (some 60% more than physical limitations alone). We estimate formal-care costs at 1.07–4.03% of GDP (depending on the valuation method) and co-residing informal-care costs at 0.79% of GDP. Per-capita formal-care costs are substantially higher for those with dementia (about 3.5 versus 2.0 million JPY annually under the self-reported approach), whereas informal-care costs are nearly uniform across impairment types—underscoring the intensive, and largely invisible, contribution of family caregivers. With the dementia and mild-cognitive-impairment population projected to reach roughly 12 million by 2040, these findings point to mounting fiscal and family-care pressures from cognitive impairment in Japan. |
| JEL: | H51 I11 I18 J14 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35442 |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Sergi Jimenez-Martin; Juan Oliva; Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto; Analía Viola |
| Abstract: | The growing prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) is one of the main drivers of age-related demand for health and long-term care (LTC). In Spain, CI is estimated to affect 18.5% of Spaniards over 65, and 45.3% in those aged 85 and above. This paper draws on a pooled pre-COVID data from a longitudinal sample of individuals aged 65+ to examine the effect of CI and physical limitations on health and long-term care utilisation, estimates its costs, and financial burden. We report four sets of findings. First, we find that socioeconomic status at older age to be the strongest predictor of CI. Second, while both CI and physical limitations increase health and care adult care use, physical impairment is a stronger predictor of overall care utilisation (73% versus 55% for CI alone) and nursing home residence (2.0% versus 0.9%). Third, informal caregiving constitutes the overwhelming majority of dementia costs, accounting for 69–81% of the total. Finally, we estimate that the replacement cost of informal care would exhaust the full budget of Spain’s LTC system (SAAD). |
| JEL: | I18 I38 J14 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35464 |
| By: | Miller, Grant; Valdes, Nieves; Vera-Hernández, Marcos |
| Abstract: | An important but poorly understood way that economic development may influence health is through the private incentives that it creates for individuals to invest in their own health. In this paper, we study how individuals’ forward-looking health investments respond to changes in expected future (but not current) wealth. Focusing on institutional features of Chile’s public pension overhaul in 1981, we link administrative microdata to a detailed household panel survey, and we then exploit discrete breaks in the resulting cohort pension wealth profile using a fuzzy regression kink design (RKD). Although theoretically ambiguous, empirically we find that greater expected pension wealth increases the use of important preventive medical care (and to a lesser extent, promotes more costly healthy lifestyle behaviors) – leading to measurable increases in chronic disease diagnosis (a requisite for appropriate disease management), reductions in disease prevalence, and measurably lower mortality in old age (particularly due to chronic diseases). In general, these results provide new evidence that economic development can have a meaningful incentive effect on health. |
| Keywords: | Health investments; Mortality; Wealth |
| JEL: | H55 I12 I15 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20712 |
| By: | De Nardi, Mariacristina; French, Eric; Jones, John Bailey; McGee, Rory |
| Abstract: | We estimate a model of savings for retired couples and singles who face longevity and medical expense risks, and in which couples can leave bequests both when the first and last spouse dies. We show that saving motives vary by marital status, permanent income, and age. We find that most households save more for medical expenses than for bequests, but that richer households and couples, who hold most of the wealth, save more for bequests. As a result, bequest motives are a key determinant of aggregate retirement wealth. |
| Keywords: | Bequests |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20743 |
| By: | Julien Blasco (LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Ulysse Lojkine (AxPo - AxPo Observatory of Market Society Polarization - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, CRIS - Centre de recherche sur les inégalités sociales (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an indicator of disability-free retirement expectancy (DFRE) based on mortality, disability and retirement data, alongside the retirement expectancy (or expected retirement duration -RE) indicator. It then measures inequalities in disability-free retirement expectancy by gender, socio-occupational category and educational attainment, usingFrench data from 2009 to 2019. The social gradient of DFRE, for a given sex, is steeper than that observed for RE: a blue-collar worker can expect fewer years of retirement than a manager of the same sex, and for these years, more years of retirement with disabilities. These inequalities in DFRE are explained by differences in disability and mortality, partly offset among men by the earlier retirement of blue-collar workers and the less educated. Over the period, RE declined as a result of later retirement, whereas, due to a reduction in disability, DFRE rose among women and the more highly educated. |
| Abstract: | Cet article construit, en complément de l'espérance de durée de retraite (ER), un indicateur d'espérance de durée de retraite sans incapacité (ERSI) à partir de données de mortalité, d'incapacité et de retraite, puis mesure les inégalités de durée de retraite sans incapacité selon le sexe, la catégorie socioprofessionnelle ou le diplôme, sur données françaises de 2009 à 2019. Le gradient social d'ERSI, à sexe donné, est plus fort que celui d'ER : un ouvrier peut s'attendre à moins d'années de retraite qu'un cadre du même sexe, et parmi elles, à plus d'années de retraite avec des incapacités. Ces inégalités d'ERSI s'expliquent par des écarts d'incapacité et de mortalité, compensés en partie chez les hommes par un départ à la retraite plus précoce des ouvriers et des moins diplômés. Sur la période, l'ER diminue du fait du départ plus tardif à la retraite, alors que grâce au recul des incapacités l'ERSI augmente chez les femmes et pour les plus diplômés. |
| Keywords: | retirement, inequalities, health, Inégalités, santé, retraite |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05674610 |
| By: | Arapakis, Karolos; French, Eric; Jones, John Bailey; McCauley, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | We document racial disparities in total and out-of-pocket medical expenditures, using data from the Health and Retirement Study linked to Medicare and Medicaid records. While White, Black, and Hispanic households have similar total annual medical expenditures, minorities benefit from higher Medicaid recipiency and face lower out-of-pocket spending. At age 65, White, Black, and Hispanic households incur on average $136, 000, $59, 000, and $68, 000, respectively, in out-of-pocket medical spending over the remainders of their lives. We use our model to evaluate a policy reform that expands public nursing home insurance. Given that White households currently pay the most out-of-pocket, they have the most to gain from the reform. In the absence of a highly redistributive funding scheme, this reform will on average redistribute financial resources from minorities to White households, illustrating how expanding public insurance can have unintended distributional consequences. |
| Keywords: | Medicaid; Race |
| JEL: | I11 I13 I14 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20738 |
| By: | Andersen, Henrik Yde; Christensen, Camilla Skovbo; Kreiner, Claus; Leth-Petersen, Søren |
| Abstract: | Many people forgo substantial economic gains by not responding to financial incentives, even in major decisions such as retirement savings and mortgage refinancing. But do the same people systematically fail to respond across financial contexts? We study this using a quasi-experimental setting that combines policy changes in pension incentives with shifts in mortgage refinancing incentives from interest rate fluctuations. Linking Danish administrative records, we uncover a striking independence between financial decisions: people who are inactive in one context are not systematically inactive in the other. One implication is that the costs of inaction are not concentrated among specific groups. |
| JEL: | G51 H24 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20610 |
| By: | Borella, Margherita; De Nardi, Mariacristina; Yang, Fang; Torres Chain, Johanna |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a dynamic life-cycle model to quantify why households save and work. The model incorporates multiple sources of risk—health, marital status, wages, medical expenses, and mortality—as well as endogenous labor supply and human capital accumulation, retirement, and bequest motives at the death of the first and last household member. We estimate it using PSID and HRS data for the 1941–1945 cohort via the Method of Simulated Moments. Eliminating bequest motives reduces aggregate wealth by 23.8% and labor earnings by 1.2%; removing medical expenses lowers them by 13.1% and 0.7%. Wage risk is crucial for early-life saving: its removal reduces wealth by 10.4% but raises earnings by 2.3%. Eliminating marriage and divorce dynamics leads couples—numerous and wealthier—to save and work slightly less, and singles—fewer and poorer—to save and work considerably more. These effects largely offset in the aggregate. Removing all saving motives beyond retirement needs and lifespan uncertainty lowers wealth by 56.9% and earnings by 2.7%. These findings show that capturing multiple risks and behavioral margins jointly is essential to understanding household saving and labor supply. |
| Keywords: | Savings; Labor supply; Bequests; Medical expenses; Wage risk |
| JEL: | E21 H31 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20323 |
| By: | Hongsilp Sriket; Navarat Temsumrit |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the heterogeneous effects of population aging on sectoral employment reallocation across countries at varying stages of economic development. Using an unbalanced panel dataset of 59 countries spanning 1960–2018, we estimate a panel fixed-effects model in which the old-age dependency ratio serves as the primary explanatory variable for employment shares across agriculture, manufacturing, and services. To rationalize the empirical findings, we develop an extended overlapping generations (OLG) model incorporating hierarchical consumption preferences differentiated by age cohort, building on the non-homothetic utility frameworks of Matsuyama (2002) and Foellmi and Zweimüller (2008). The model generates age-specific demand structures in which older cohorts systematically shift consumption expenditure toward services, particularly health-related services, inducing labor reallocation away from industry. Empirical results confirm that aging accelerates tertiarization – the expansion of service-sector employment share – most prominently in high-income economies, consistent with the demand-side channel of structural transformation. In low-income countries, however, binding income constraints prevent full materialization of preference-driven sectoral reallocation, resulting in persistent agricultural employment retention. Middle-income countries exhibit ambiguous dynamics, suggestive of a structural transformation puzzle. These findings highlight that the demographic transition interacts with the level of economic development to shape the trajectory of deindustrialization and de-agriculturalization, with important implications for development policy and long-run labor productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Structural Transformation; Cross-country Analysis; Aging population; Human Capital |
| JEL: | O11 O40 O57 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pui:dpaper:261 |
| By: | Favero, Carlo A.; Srivastava, Dev |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the long-run impact of demographic trends on government debt dynamics in the United States and five major European economies. Using a dynamic model that integrates demographic projections into the intertemporal government budget constraint, we show that ageing populations exert upward pressure on debt-to-GDP ratios by dampening output growth, weakening primary fiscal balances, and causing a negative differential between the rate of output growth and the average cost of financing the debt. While Germany and the Netherlands benefit from relatively favorable demographic fundamentals and disciplined fiscal policy, countries like Italy, Spain, France, and the US face increasing debt sustainability risks. Counterfactual simulations highlight that sustained migration inflows and postponement of the retirement age can significantly mitigate these risks by improving the age structure of the population, raising growth, and lowering fiscal deficits. These findings underscore the importance of demographic-aware fiscal frameworks and the role of migration policy as a tool for macroeconomic stabilization. |
| Keywords: | Demographics; Migration; Europe |
| JEL: | H63 E62 J11 F15 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20688 |
| By: | Igor Fedotenkov; Anneleen Vandeplas |
| Abstract: | Populations across the European Union are ageing. While concerns have been raised that ageing may reduce business dynamism, and, consequently, economic growth, this hypothesis has not yet been tested empirically in an EU context. To address this gap, this paper investigates the relationship between demographic structure and firm entry rates in the European Union. The results suggest that the size of the 30-44 age group has the strongest positive effect on firm entry. Alternative estimation methods and the inclusion of control variables do not change this conclusion. It is in line with the notion that age has a hump-shaped effect on the propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. In addition, younger age cohorts are found to exert a more negative impact on firm entry than older age cohorts. Rising educational attainment may partially offset the adverse effects of demographic ageing on business dynamism in the years ahead |
| JEL: | D22 J11 J15 L29 M13 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:dispap:251 |
| By: | Liu, Weifeng Larry; Mckibbin, Warwick |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys long-term projections of global GDP per capita and presents our own projections through 2050 using a multi-country-multi-sector general equilibrium model (G-Cubed). Existing studies generally agree that global GDP per capita growth will continue to slow in the coming decades, driven by several global challenges such as rapid population ageing, slower technological progress, weaker capital investment, and stagnating educational attainment. Projections tend to be consistent for advanced economies, but vary considerably for developing regions, highlighting the importance of alternative methodologies and assumptions, as well as inherent long-term uncertainty. While existing studies rely on neoclassical models with an aggregate production sector, the G-Cubed model takes a disaggregated approach to projecting productivity and output that accounts for dynamic interactions between sectors and across economies. Our projections incorporate the impacts of three fundamental factors: productivity growth, population ageing, and climate change. Productivity growth in advanced economies is expected to slow, but artificial intelligence could counteract the decline and serve as an engine for sustained growth. Population ageing in most advanced economies will continue to constrain labour supply, potentially reducing GDP per capita through changes in age structure. Climate change poses challenges to economic growth through multiple channels, with moderate quantitative impacts by mid-century. The extent to which developing regions can boost productivity, leverage demographic advantages, and navigate climate change will depend on policy choices, as well as governance and institutional improvements. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of geopolitical fragmentation, government debt, and public infrastructure on economic growth. |
| JEL: | O40 O33 C53 C68 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20293 |
| By: | Daniel K. Fetter; Lee M. Lockwood; Paul Mohnen |
| Abstract: | Both historically and today, support of aging parents has largely taken the form of in-kind transfers that require physical proximity, such as housing and caregiving. If Social Security substitutes for such support, it can relax constraints on where recipients' children live and work. We investigate the long-run intergenerational effects of the early Social Security program, exploiting within-occupation, cross-industry differences in coverage and a new dataset linking parents to their children's later-life outcomes. We find that sons whose parents had greater predicted coverage moved farther from their childhood homes, earned more, and lived in better neighborhoods late in life. We find no such effects for daughters, who tended to provide forms of support less easily replaced by Social Security. The gains considerably exceeded the associated Social Security benefits for the average family, with migration to better-matched labor markets a likely key driver. We propose that the early program enabled families to realize gains from migration that were back-loaded, uncertain, and difficult to contract on. |
| JEL: | D15 H55 J14 J61 N32 R23 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35456 |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Wanying Wang |
| Abstract: | Although flexible employment policies can help employed individuals balance caregiving and paid work, limited evidence has been devoted to examining the effect of working flexibly on the supply of care to older adults. In this paper, we study the impact of flexible working conditions on the supply of informal adult care and mental health. We exploit variation from the 2014 expansion of the Right to Request Flexible Work (RRFW) to employees in the UK. Our findings point to a gendered response to increased employment flexibility. We document a 1.3-percentage-point increase in the likelihood that men provide informal care within the household, alongside less regular daytime work, greater control over working hours, and higher engagement in home production. In contrast, among potential female caregivers, we find that the reform reduced the probability of high-intensity caregiving, which is typically incompatible with employment or related activities. We document that the increased workplace flexibility not only encourages caregiving but also helps reduce gender disparities in unpaid care. We additionally find suggestive evidence of improved mental health outcomes, particularly among men. |
| Keywords: | flexible working, informal care, right to request flexible work, mental health, United Kingdom |
| JEL: | J14 J22 I13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12825 |
| By: | Speidel, Christine S. |
| Abstract: | In the United States millions of people live with disabilities, many of whom require assistance with activities of daily life to remain in their homes and communities. However, financial support for this assistance is limited. Many caregivers forgo working outside the home in order to provide care to a family member. And while state and federal programs provide some compensation for caregiving, caregivers frequently face problems including poverty, lack of health insurance, lack of Social Security and Medicare credits, and lack of retirement savings. Our nation’s paltry support for caregiving threatens the practical ability of people with disabilities to choose community integration over institutional living. This Essay examines the little-known and little-used “difficulty of care” gross income exclusion under I.R.C. § 131 as a possible vehicle to improve this picture. While § 131 originated as an exclusion for foster payments, it was reinterpreted in IRS Notice 2014-7 to apply to contemporary programs for in-home services and supports. Unfortunately, the impact of this reinterpretation was complicated and hotly contested. This Essay juxtaposes the evolution of home and community-based health care services, the Affordable Care Act, and the evolution of tax expenditures for low-income taxpayers to explain how the tax and health care systems collided in the aftermath of Notice 2014-7. This Essay reveals tensions and contradictions between tax and health care policy, informed by case examples and by ground-level considerations of program administration. It suggests that a gross income exclusion is an ineffective means to implement policy preferences and that policymakers should undertake a broader examination of the interactions between health and tax provisions when considering financial supports for caregiving. Finally, the Essay offers preliminary considerations for redesigning tax supports for caregiving, both to better reflect the values of dignity and autonomy that underlie home-based services, and to prevent unintended harm to low-income families. |
| Date: | 2026–07–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:lawarc:v69cw_v1 |
| By: | Rong Fu (Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University, and Waseda Institute of Social & Human Capital Studies (WISH)); Masato Oikawa (Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, and WISH); Akira Kawamura (Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, and WISH); Haruko Noguchi (Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, and WISH) |
| Abstract: | Understanding how vulnerable populations respond to healthcare price changes is critical as demographic pressures mount globally. We examine a Japanese reform that doubled coinsurance rates from 10% to 20% for higher-income enrollees aged 75+, using novel data linking national health insurance claims to individual tax records for essentially the entire population aged 75+ over 26 months. Near-perfect compliance at the income eligibility threshold enables a clean difference-in-differences event study with near-experimental treatment assignment. We document three behavioral phases: a last-minute anticipatory surge (+5.9% in costs) concentrated in the final notification month, consistent with deadline salience; an immediate decrease (−6.3%) upon implementation; and persistent modest reductions (~3%) thereafter. Patients adjust almost entirely through visit frequency rather than treatment intensity. Responses follow a gradient of service discretionarity, with dental care showing the sharpest reductions and hospital admissions declining in a pattern consistent with deferral of elective procedures. Expenditure caps shield the most medically intensive patients from the reform's financial impact. Despite utilization reductions, 15-month cumulative mortality is lower among those facing higher coinsurance, though statistically insignificant. Price elasticities (−0.03 to −0.06) are notably smaller than estimates for younger elderly populations. These results support value-based insurance design and demonstrate that carefully calibrated cost-sharing, paired with effective safety nets, need not compromise health outcomes among the oldest-old. |
| Keywords: | cost-sharing; healthcare utilization; oldest-old; value-based insurance design |
| JEL: | I11 I13 J14 H51 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wap:wpaper:2610 |
| By: | Kutai, Ari; Saporta-Eksten, Itay; Schlosser, Analia |
| Abstract: | Digital hiring tools challenge older workers accustomed to traditional job search methods. Using a large-scale RCT, we evaluate a job search training program for high-skilled older unemployed individuals focused on the use of online platforms and social networks. The program increased earnings and job stability for men, especially in jobs requiring complex matching, suggesting improved match quality, but had no positive impact on women's earnings. Gender differences cannot be explained by observable characteristics or differential compliance but appear to derive from treated women's increased reservation wages and lower returns to online search tools. |
| JEL: | J08 J14 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20494 |