October 2021
15Oct

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Precarious Aging: The Importance of an Equity Response

By Marc A. Garcia, Adriana M. Reyes & Catherine Garcia Older Black, Indigenous, and Latinx adults are at a higher risk of negative COVID-19 outcomes relative to older non-Latinx White adults. Mounting evidence regarding the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color lays bare the effects of long-standing and deeply rooted structural racism in American society. Residential and occupational segregation and unequal access to health-promoting resources such as education, income, wealth, and quality healthcare have exposed and amplified pre-existing...

October 15, 2021
Aging, Articles, , , ,
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07Oct

Income Trajectories in Later Life: Longitudinal Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

By Olivia S. Mitchell, Robert Clark, Annamaria Lusardi We examine respondents in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to observe how their financial situations unfolded as they aged. We focus on low-income older adults and follow them over time to identify the factors associated with having low income at baseline and thereafter. We find that (a) real income remained relatively stable as individuals approached and entered retirement, and progressed through their retirement years, and (b) labor force participation declined and...

October 7, 2021
Aging, Articles, Pension design, , ,
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September 2021
17Sep

The Ageing & Development Report: a summary Poverty, Independence & the World’s Older People

By Help Age International What is The Ageing & Development Report? The Ageing & Development Report is the first extensive survey of the roles and needs of older people in developing countries. The report examines the major social and economic implications of the rapid growth in numbers of older people in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. It covers the impact on economies, health systems, housing, working patterns and family relationships. The report draws on HelpAge...

September 17, 2021
Aging, Books, ,
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17Sep

Demographics and Automation

By Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo We argue theoretically and document empirically that aging leads to greater (industrial) automation, because it creates a shortage of middle-aged workers specializing in manual production tasks. We show that demographic change is associated with greater adoption of robots and other automation technologies across countries and with more robotics-related activities across U.S. commuting zones. We also document more automation innovation in countries undergoing faster aging. Our directed technological change model predicts that the response of...

September 17, 2021
Aging, Articles, Innovation,
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August 2021
26Aug

Retirement and Voluntary Work Provision: Evidence from the Australian Age Pension Reform

By Rong Zhu This paper examines the empirical link between retirement and the supply of volunteer labor, using panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. To identify the causal impact, we exploit a major reform of the Australian Age Pension which has significantly changed the retirement incentives of older people. We find positive and significant effects of retirement status on the voluntary work provision of older men and women. Longer time spent in retirement...

August 26, 2021
Aging, Articles, Pension design, , ,
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16Aug

Financial Resilience in America August 2021

By Martha Deevy, Jialu Liu Streetern, Andrea Hasler & Annamaria Lusardi Data collected right before COVID-19 hit the United States in 2020 indicated deeply rooted financial insecurity: one in three American families wasn’t ready to cope with a mid-sized financial shock; about 27% couldn’t come up with $2,000 within a month if an unexpected need were to arise; and 33% found it difficult to make ends meet in a typical month (2020 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index [P-Fin Index], Yakoboski...

August 16, 2021
Aging, Books, Pension design, Reports, ,
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06Aug

Death and Taxes: Why Longer Lives Cost Money

By Christopher Snowdon The British population is getting older. In 1948, life expectancy was 68. Thanks to healthier lifestyles and medical advances, it is now 81 and is expected to rise to 87 by the end of the next decade. The rapid growth of the elderly population will put a strain on healthcare, social care and welfare provision. The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that health spending in the UK will rise from 6.2 per cent of GDP in 2019/20 to...

August 6, 2021
Aging, Articles, Pension design, ,
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July 2021
29Jul

Fair Pension Policies with Occupation-Specific Aging

By Volker Grossmann, Johannes Schünemann & Holger Strulik We discuss public pension systems in a multi-period overlapping generations model with gerontologically founded human aging and a special focus on occupation-specific morbidity and mortality. We examine how distinct replacement rates for white-collar and blue-collar workers and early retirement policies could be designed to provide a fair and aggregate welfare-enhancing public pension system. Calibrating the model to Germany, we find that a pension system that equalizes relative pension contributions and the relative...

July 29, 2021
Aging, Articles, Pension design, ,
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08Jul

Delay the Pension Age or Adjust the Pension Benefit? Implications for Labor Supply and Individual Welfare in China

By Yuanyuan Deng, Hanming Fang, Katja Hanewald, Shang Wu We develop and calibrate a life-cycle model of labor supply and consumption to quantify the implications of alternative pension reforms on labor supply, individual welfare, and government budget for China’s basic old-age insurance program. We focus on urban males and distinguish low-skilled and high-skilled individuals, who differ in their preferences, health and labor income dynamics, and medical expense processes. We use the calibrated model to evaluate three potential pension reforms: (i)...

July 8, 2021
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, , , , , ,
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08Jul

Towards equity and sustainability? China’s pension system reform moves center stage

By Li Yang In this paper I review the latest development of China’s public pension system. Last several decades saw China’s tremendous achievement in various public pension reforms. Especially since the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), reform has accelerated. By 2019, the public pension system in China has covered almost one billion adults, which makes it the biggest pension system in the world. Together with the expansion of Dibao (Basic living allowance) and the eradication of poverty, the development of pension...

July 8, 2021
Aging, Articles, System Sustainability, , , ,
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