October 2018

Statistical, Mapping and Digital Approaches in Healthcare

By Gilles Maignant,‎ Pascal Staccini Statistical, Mapping and Digital Approaches in Healthcare addresses all health territories, starting from the analysis of geographical data (health data, population data, health data systems and environmental data), to new health areas (Health 3.0), i.e. digital health territories. Specific tools are used to question environmental changes, such as health statistics, mapping, mathematical models, optimization models and serious games. Uniquely combines the approaches of mathematicians, geographers and physician to the analysis of health territories Presents views that...

Counting the Oil Money and the Elderly: Norway’s Public Sector Balance Sheet

By Ezequiel Cabezon (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill), Christian Henn (International Monetary Fund) Based on a permanent income analysis, Gagnon (2018) has prominently suggested that Norwayhas saved too much, thereby free-riding on the rest of the world for demand. Our public sectorbalance sheet analysis comes to the opposite conclusion, chiefly because it also accounts forfuture aging costs. Unsurprisingly, we find that Norway's current assets exceed its liabilities bysome 340 percent of mainland GDP. But its nonoil fiscal...

Counting the Oil Money and the Elderly: Norway's Public Sector Balance Sheet

By Ezequiel Cabezon (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill), Christian Henn (International Monetary Fund) Based on a permanent income analysis, Gagnon (2018) has prominently suggested that Norwayhas saved too much, thereby free-riding on the rest of the world for demand. Our public sectorbalance sheet analysis comes to the opposite conclusion, chiefly because it also accounts forfuture aging costs. Unsurprisingly, we find that Norway's current assets exceed its liabilities bysome 340 percent of mainland GDP. But its nonoil fiscal...

September 2018

The Politics of Aging and Retirement: Evidence from Swiss Referenda

By Piera Bello (University of Lugano) Vincenzo Galasso (University of Lugano; Centre for Economic Policy Research) Aging creates financial troubles for PAYG pension systems, since the share of retirees to workers increases. An often advocated policy response is to increase retirement age. Ironically, however, the political support for this policy may actually be hindered by population aging. Using Swiss administrative voting data at municipal level (and individual survey data) from pension reforms referenda, we show in fact that individuals close...

Inequalities of Aging: Paradoxes of Independence in American Home Care (Anthropologies of American Medicine: Culture, Power, and Practice)

By Elana D. Buch The troubling dynamic of the American home care industry where increased independence for the elderly conflicts with the well being of caregivers Paid home care is one of the fastest growing occupations in the United States, and millions of Americans rely on these workers to help them remain at home as they grow older. However, the industry is rife with contradictions. The United States spends a fortune on medical care, yet devotes comparatively few resources on improving...

Medium-Run Implications of Changing Demographic Structures for the Macro-Economy

By Yunus Aksoy (Birkbeck, University of London),Henrique S. Basso (Birkbeck College, University of London) & Ron Smith (Birkbeck College) In the decade since the onset of the financial crisis, the disappointing recovery has sparked renewed concern about the medium-run outlook for advanced economies. Rather than returning to the pre-crisis trend, output has continued to diverge from it. It is difficult to know whether this is a cyclical phenomenon, a slow recovery towards steady state, or a secular change in the...

2018 Retirement preparedness survey: A Generational Challenge

By Prudential The U.S. retirement landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Fewer workers today are eligible to receive a pension and instead must save for their own retirements, typically through workplace savings plans. Replacement rates for Social Security are declining due to the increase in the “full retirement age.”1 Income is becoming less predictable, thanks in part to new employment models. Health care costs are increasing, and so is longevity—which means workers today don’t just have more...

Still Attached? Are Social Safety Nets Working? Labor Force Participation in European Regions

By Benjamin Hilgenstock (Institute of International Finance) & Zsoka Koczan (International Monetary Fund (IMF)) The paper examines the evolution and drivers of labor force participation in European regions, focusing on the effects of trade and technology. As in the United States, rural regions within European countries saw more pronounced declines (or smaller increases) in participation than urban regions. Unlike in the United States, however, trade and technology, captured here using novel measures of initial exposures to routinization and offshoring, did...

What Age Do You Feel? – Subjective Age and Economic Behaviors

By Zihan Ye (Zhejiang University - College of Economics) & Thomas Post (Maastricht University - School of Business and Economics - Department of Finance; Netspa) Building on recent findings in psychology, we study the impact of subjective age (feeling younger or older than one’s chronological age) on economic behaviors. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study we find that subjective age predicts economic behaviors: Individuals with younger age identities have higher work engagement, and their savings profile, as a...

August 2018

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Relationship to Youth Employment (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

By por Jonathan Gruber ,‎ David A. Wise  Many countries have social security systems that are currently financially unsustainable. Economists and policy makers have long studied this problem and identified two key causes. First, as declining birth rates raise the share of older persons in the population, the ratio of retirees to benefits-paying employees increases. Second, as falling mortality rates increase lifespans, retirees receive benefits for longer than in the past. Further exacerbating the situation, the provisions of social security...