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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Glenzer, Franca; Michaud, Pierre-Carl; Staubli, Stefan |
| Abstract: | In many retirement income systems, people forgo a higher stream of public pension income by claiming early. This paper provides survey-and quasi-experimental evidence on how increasing financial incentives, educating individuals, and changing the framing of the claiming decision affect pension claiming and the present value of expected pension benefits. We find that all three types of interventions induce delays, but they have heterogeneous financial consequences. Educating participants about the claiming decision and life expectancy leads to claiming ages with higher pension wealth. In contrast, changing the framing of the claiming decision and strengthening financial incentives do not improve, and may even worsen, financial outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Annuities; Retirement; Financial education; Framing |
| JEL: | D91 H55 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20234 |
| By: | Laurence Dynes; Stephane Jacobzone |
| Abstract: | An ageing population and the growing need for support for elderly retirees have put public finances under pressure. This paper examines how countries can strengthen income security in old age through efficient fiscal policies, considering not just income flows but also wealth during retirement. As many older people hold significant assets, particularly housing, income alone does not fully capture financial well-being. Drawing on experiences in selected OECD countries, the paper explores concrete options for targeting financial support during retirement, considering both income and wealth. The paper also explores how annuities and reverse mortgages can allow individuals to convert existing assets into additional retirement income, reducing the need to draw on public finances. The analysis suggests that, while these tools have the potential to complement public pensions and help manage financial risks, they remain underused due to informational, regulatory and market challenges. The paper highlights practical experiences with overcoming these challenges, including providing clear information, ensuring appropriate safeguards and offering supportive market conditions to facilitate uptake, drawing on a range of experiences across OECD countries. |
| Keywords: | ageing, annuity, budget, housing, pension, public finance, reverse mortgage |
| JEL: | A1 E6 H55 H6 |
| Date: | 2026–08–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaaa:94-en |
| By: | Qian, Yuting; Gavulic, Kyle A.; Chen, Xi |
| Abstract: | A documented diagnosis only benefits patients who know about it. Using nationally representative Health and Retirement Study data linked to Medicare claims (1998-2020), we quantify the gap between clinically documented dementia diagnoses and patients' own reports. Among self-respondents with probable dementia and a claims-based diagnosis, 67 percent do not report having been diagnosed-more than double the average underreporting rate for arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, and depression among the same population-and underreporting is highest in the early disease stage, precisely when decision-making capacity is greatest. Underreporting is more prevalent among individuals who live alone, are dually eligible, have less education, and are non-Hispanic Black, and less prevalent among Medicare Advantage enrollees and patients seen by dementia specialists, consistent with roles for stigma, social vulnerability, and provider disclosure incentives. Underreporting predicts lower post-diagnosis care engagement and a lower likelihood of establishing a will or trust, suggesting information frictions undermine the returns to early detection. |
| Keywords: | Dementia, underreporting, diagnostic disclosure, Medicare, aging, cognitive decline, end-of-life planning |
| JEL: | I11 I12 I14 J14 D83 I18 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1794 |
| By: | Kesternich, Iris; Romahn, André; Van Biesebroeck, Johannes; Van Damme, Marjolein |
| Abstract: | The German universal long-term care (LTC) insurance program offers beneficiaries the choice between in-kind services and a cash benefit, which can be used for anything, including informal care. The optimal level of the cash benefit depends on substitution between formal and informal care options, the cost of public funds, and distributional considerations. To evaluate various policy options, we estimate a random-coefficients demand model for the period 1999-2015 using data on the universe of LTC patients supplemented with micro moments from the German Mikrozensus. Results show strong heterogeneity in patient preferences for the three different LTC options: informal, ambulatory and stationary care. A counterfactual analysis predicts that abolishing the cash subsidy leads to a decline in patient surplus that far outweighs the savings in public expenditure. It suggests that many countries could benefit from the introduction of a cash subsidy option for LTC. |
| Keywords: | Aging |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20199 |
| By: | Bhattarai, Santosh; Schwab, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | As the elderly population in developing nations across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow, many countries have expanded or considered expanding non-contributory pension programs. Beyond their impact on direct beneficiaries, increased transfers to the elderly may also affect younger generations with direct ties to recipients. How might such transfers impact the nutritional outcomes of grandchildren living in the same household as recipients? We examine this question using Nepal’s old age allowance (OAA) program. Nepal’s 2008 OAA expansion lowered the eligibility threshold from age 75 to 70 for general population and to age 60 for Dalit households nationwide and five districts of Karnali province. We estimate the causal effect of pension expansion on child anthropometric outcomes using the Flexible DiD estimator across five rounds of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2022). We find no evidence that the pension expansion did improved child anthropometry. In contrast, estimated average treatment effects on the treated are consistently negative. Event-study estimates reveal an immediate negative, though imprecisely estimated, shift in child height and weight at the first post treatment survey round. The pension expansion causes a statistically significant increase in household size, which may have diluted per child resource availability. We find a significant reduction in the probability of child consuming fruits and vegetables in the treated households, while animal source nutrients intake show no significant response. Placebo tests using time invariant household assets indicates these results cannot be explained solely by differential sample selection. We also find no evidence that maternal health, fertility behavior, and female labor supply drive the child nutrition result. In contrast to previous studies, we find no support for the hypothesis that expanded elderly pensions benefit co-residing children. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404657 |
| By: | De Donder, Philippe; Zohaib, Sadia; Achou, Bertrand; Glenzer, Franca; Lee, Minjoon; Leroux, Marie-Louise |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the changes in long-term care (LTC) preferences, saving behavior, and policy attitudes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic have persisted in the post-pandemic period. Using new survey data collected in 2023 from a representative sample of working-age individuals in Ontario and Qu´ebec, we compare responses to those obtained during the first phase of the pandemic in 2020. We document that nursing-home aversion remains widespread several years after the crisis and continues to shape economic behavior and policy preferences. Individuals who are more averse to nursing homes are significantly more likely to plan to increase saving for old age and to support public subsidies for home care. These relationships are robust across demographic and socioeconomic groups, indicating that the effects are not confined to specific subpopulations. Overall, our findings suggest that the pandemic has led to persistent changes in preferences with important implications for LTC financing and policy design. In particular, the continued mismatch between household preferences and the current emphasis on institutional care highlights the need to reassess the allocation of public resources toward home-based care. |
| Keywords: | Pandemic Risk, Nursing Home, Long-Term Care, Saving, Public Policy |
| JEL: | D14 H31 H51 H53 I10 I31 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:132026 |
| By: | Cremer, Helmuth; Gahvari, Firouz |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to the long-term care policy literature by exploring how, in an uncertain environment, redistributive tax policies and long-term care program design interact with informal care incentives, shaping long-term caregiving outcomes. The analysis is done within an overlapping-generations model in the steady state under full and asymetric information. Altruistic children provide informal care to their elderly parents if dependent. Not all children are altruistic. Children's level of altruism is shaped by the time and attention they received in childhood. Key findings, under asymetric information, include: (i) Allocations are distorted for redistributive purposes, except for savings, (ii) marginal income tax rates are positive, aligning with standard nonlinear income taxation models, and (iii) a consequence of government's redistributive policies is to encourage time spent with children thus incresing family caregiving. These three findings apply to both "opting out" and "topping up" schemes. (iv) Savings must be subsidized in an opting out system due to fiscal externalities; (v) if public assistance carries a stigma, it may have to be distorted upward; the opting-out policy welfare dominates the topping-up policy. Finally, if long term care provision carries no stigma, opting out is more cost-effective than topping up in both first- and second-best. |
| JEL: | H2 H5 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20060 |
| By: | Pan, Cong; Yuan, Shuang; Wu, Yongyang; Zhao, Qiran |
| Abstract: | Population aging is transforming rural households across developing countries, yet limited evidence exists on how it reshapes consumption across the distribution. This study examines the association between household aging and per capita consumption in rural China using 350, 351 household-year observations from the Fixed Observation Rural Survey for 2003–2022. We measure household aging as the share of members aged 60 or above within the realized household consumption unit, capturing demographic change as it is experienced in rural households shaped by migration and co-residence. Empirically, we combine household fixed-effects models with unconditional quantile regressions to estimate both average and distributional associations. We find that household aging is associated with lower per capita consumption and that the negative association becomes substantially stronger toward the upper tail of the distribution, indicating compression from above rather than improvement at the bottom. Category-specific results show that contraction is concentrated in discretionary and relatively income-elastic spending, whereas health expenditure is comparatively rigid and may increase with aging. Additional analyses suggest that this pattern is consistent with declines in income capacity, asset-based wealth and informal support. Larger households and households with more farmland exhibit weaker agingrelated consumption losses. The findings show that population aging is reshaping not only average demand but also the composition and distribution of rural consumption under incomplete welfare provision, and they highlight the importance of household structure and rural resource buffers in shaping how aging is lived and managed in the countryside. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404605 |
| By: | Andonov, Aleksandar; Bonetti, Matteo; Stefanescu, Irina |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of investment consultants in shaping the investment policies of U.S. public pension funds. General consultants assist pension funds with asset allocation decisions, and their clients implement similar target allocations. Specialized consultants are increasingly hired to advise on scaling-up investments in private markets and their clients achieve this often by selecting the same asset managers. The convergence in allocations and investments among pension funds using the same consultant, coupled with growing consultant concentration, has significant implications. Although consultants do not improve access to managers in private markets and overall performance, they substantially influence allocations and capital flows. |
| Keywords: | Pension funds; Intermediation; Asset allocation; Private equity |
| JEL: | G11 G23 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19962 |
| By: | Adam Bloomfield; Ngoc Dao; Kyung Min Lee; Sita Slavov |
| Abstract: | We examine how state policies requiring firms to facilitate workplace retirement saving affect household balance sheets. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we compare private-sector workers likely exposed to Oregon’s Automatic-Enrollment Individual Retirement Account (Auto-IRA) policy with similar workers in not-yet-adopting states. We find that the Auto-IRA policy is associated with increases in IRA and employer-sponsored retirement plan ownership and assets. We also find increases in checking or savings account ownership and balances, as well as higher credit card debt. The results suggest that Auto-IRA policies spill over to household liquidity management and borrowing. |
| JEL: | D14 G51 J32 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35373 |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Wang, Wanying (Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics) |
| 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: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18800 |
| By: | Bloise, Gaetano; Reichlin, Pietro |
| Abstract: | We provide an analytical decomposition of the welfare effect of raising the contribution rate of a pay-as-you-go social security at equilibrium in an overlapping generations economy with productive uncertainty and idiosyncratic labor income risks. Based on the observed long-run pattern of GDP growth and safe rate for most advanced economies, we argue that social security is likely to be a Pareto improving policy due to the over accumulation of capital that arise from individual risk at competitive equilibria. Assuming Epstein-Zin preference representation and Cobb-Douglas technology, the welfare effect can be decomposed into a "direct" effect, which takes into account the inter-generations reallocation of consumption and risk at status quo, a "general equilibrium" effect, that takes into account the reallocation of capital and labor and an "idiosyncratic risk" component. The relevant statistics that affect these two components are the growth-adjusted dominant root of the stochastic discount factor at the competitive equilibrium and the covariance between wages and individual labor productivity. Since the estimated direct and general equilibrium effects are very small, the net effect of social security is almost entirely determined by the idiosyncratic risk component, which is shown to affect positively individuals’ welfare under crowding out. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic efficiency |
| JEL: | E21 E22 E62 H55 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20175 |
| By: | Ben Malinga John (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Souza Emmanuel; Jiaxin Shi (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | -Life expectancy has risen substantially across Sub-Saharan African (SSA), but national trajectories have diverged. Malawi represents a striking case of transformation, moving from one of the region’s lowest ranked countries in 1950 to among its leaders in 2023 despite persistent economic stagnation. We examine how age specific mortality changes contributed to Malawi’s exceptional gains in life expectancy and compares its mortality transition with those of other SSA countries. We use age and sex specific mortality data from the 2024 United Nations World Population Prospects for 15 SSA countries between 1950 and 2023. Countries were selected to represent the highest, average, and lowest performing groups in life expectancy at birth in 1950. We analyze trends, decompose changes using the Arriaga method, and estimate potential future gains from eliminating mortality at specific ages. Results show that Malawi recorded the largest increase in life expectancy, gaining 36.2 years for females and 33.2 years for males. Its mortality decline followed a broadly similar age pattern to the region but with exceptional intensity: between 1950 and 1980, two thirds of gains came from childhood mortality reductions, while after 2000, adult survival improvements contributed nearly half. Malawi’s resilience during the HIV/AIDS crisis and rapid post 2000 recovery highlight the combined influence of expanded female education, large scale donor investment, and community-based health programs. Our findings provide the first long term age specific decomposition of Malawi’s life expectancy transformation in comparative SSA context, highlighting the changing age structure of mortality reduction in the region. |
| Keywords: | Africa, differential mortality, life expectancy, mortality decline |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2026-036 |
| By: | Mahlberg, Bernhard; Mara, Isilda; Prskawetz, Alexia; Gerstner, Isabel |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to estimate the age–productivity profile of Austrian firms using a linked employer–employee dataset for the years 2013–2022. The OLS and FE estimates indicate a highly significant relationship between workforce age structure and labour productivity. Across both estimation methods, we find an inverted U-shaped age–productivity profile. We also account for capital intensity and the share of automation-related assets (ADRA). The estimation results show that firms with greater capital intensity and higher levels of automation consistently exhibit higher productivity across the distribution. In addition, the marginal effect of the share of ADRA-related capital is greater than that of the agerelated variables. These findings have important implications for both firm strategy and public policy, highlighting the role of technology diffusion, education, and potentially organisational change in sustaining productivity in ageing societies. The empirical strategy is complemented by panel data methods and robustness checks to account for persistence, unobserved heterogeneity, and potential reverse causality. |
| Keywords: | Age-productivity profile, Labour productivity, Automation-related assets, Principal component analysis |
| JEL: | D24 J14 J24 J82 O33 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuweco:342377 |
| By: | Alexander Bick |
| Abstract: | In the first half of 2026, the falling labor force participation rate was mostly due to a statistical correction and an aging population. But a sharp drop in prime-age workers also occurred. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation; prime-age workers; statistical corrections |
| Date: | 2026–08–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00001:103599 |