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on Demographic Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒07‒09
five papers chosen by Héctor Pifarré i Arolas Max-Planck-Institut für demografische Forschung |
| By: | Italo López García (RAND Corporation); Andrés Otero (Chilean Pension Regulator) |
| Abstract: | Chile initiated in 1981 a privately managed, individual-account pension system that inspired similar reforms in many Latin American countries, and that has been considered as a possible model for Social Security in the United States. After 30 years in place, the Chilean pension system has been criticized for replicating existing inequalities in labor markets and increasing the risk of old-age poverty; for achieving lower levels of coverage; and for providing low pension benefits. Aiming at guaranteeing a minimum level of consumption upon retirement and increasing the incentives to contribute, in 2008 Chile reformed the Pension System, widening the welfare tier and improving the contributory tier through a means-testing scheme. This paper examines the impact of the 2008 Chilean pension on labor supply and well-being, using a version of the difference-in-difference estimator that assesses the effects of the reform through exogenous changes in pension wealth. Using longitudinal data from 2006 through 2012, and a sample of individuals that were not retired by the time of the implementation of the reforms, our preliminary estimates suggest that the pension reforms induced an increase in the probability of working formally, but at least among females, they reduced labor market participation. However, we find limited impacts of the reform on nonlabor outcomes. Besides some improvements in aggregate household expenditures and in measures of subjective well-being measures among males, we do not detect robust changes in health and well-being among individuals near retirement. |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp358&r=dem |
| By: | Alain Jousten; Mathieu Lefebvre |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the labor market participation of older workers in Belgium over the last 3 decades. It outlines the changes to the institutional framework of relevance for labor market participation and employment. Drawing on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS) over the period 1983-2013, we provide evidence of the trends in participation in (early-) retirement routes. We also explore how the jobs occupied by older workers have changed over time, both in terms of their “quality” and the “quantity” of work involved. Part-time work is found to become more common, though with different attributes for men and women. |
| JEL: | H55 J11 J21 J26 I38 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24669&r=dem |
| By: | Tobias Mueller, Mujaheed Shaikh |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence on intra-household retirement externalities by assessing the causal e ect of spousal retirement on various health behaviors and health status across 19 European countries. We identify partner's and own retirement e ects by applying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design using retirement eligibility as exogenous instruments for spousal and own retirement status. We nd signi cant increases in the frequency and intensity of alcohol consumption combined with a signi cant decrease in moderate physical activities as a response to partner's retirement. In line with the existing literature, we nd that own retirement has signi cant positive e ects on engaging in moderate and vigorous physical activities but also leads to a signi cant increase in the frequency of alcohol intake. Overall, subjective health is negatively a ected by spousal retirement and positively by own retirement. |
| Keywords: | Retirement Externalities, Health behavior, Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design |
| JEL: | J26 I12 C26 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp1709&r=dem |
| By: | Alexander A. J. Wulfers |
| Abstract: | Abstract The Age of Mass Migration came to an end in the interwar period with new American immigration restrictions, but did this end affect some potential migrants more than others? I use previously unanalysed data from passenger lists of ships leaving Bremen, one of the major European ports of emigration, between 1920 and 1933, to identify occupations and skill levels of individual migrants. The main focus of the paper is on the role that policy played in influencing the selection of migrants. I study the American quota laws of 1921, 1924, and 1929, and find that increasingly strict quotas led to an increase in the skill level of migrants as well as a shift from agricultural to manufacturing workers first, and from manufacturing to professional workers later. |
| Keywords: | immigration policy, skill selection, quotas, United States, Bremen, interwar period |
| JEL: | J15 N32 N34 |
| Date: | 2018–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:esohwp:_161&r=dem |
| By: | Ye Jin Heo (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically studies through which channel - between short expected remaining life and withdrawal from the labor market - population aging affects real house price more and how the effect can vary if old-age population is defined alternatively in a way to reflect different aspects of aging, using a panel data of OECD countries. It finds that the main driver of a negative relationship between aging and real house price comes from the later stage of life and not immediately after the age of 65 or retirement. It also shows that the effective retirement age matters more in explaining the relationship between aging and real house price than the age 65, since the share of retired population has a nonlinear effect on real house price, while the standard old-age population aged over 65 does not. When I project future real house price, the standard old-age population only predicts a further decrease in real house price as aging continues, whereas the retired population captures a positive marginal effect and leaves room for policy intervention. |
| Keywords: | J11, G12, R21 |
| JEL: | J11 G12 R21 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbp:nbpmis:288&r=dem |