January 2019

Government Transfers, Work and Wellbeing: Evidence from the Russian Old-Age Pension

By Louise Grogan (University of Guelph - Department of Economics) & Fraser Summerfield (University of Aberdeen - Economics; CELMR; Rimini Center for Economic Analysis (RCEA)) This paper examines the impacts of a large and anticipated government transfer, the Russian old-age pension, on labor supply, home production and subjective wellbeing. The discontinuity in eligibility at pension age is exploited for inference. The 2006-2011 Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey is employed. Causal impacts differ across the sexes. Women reduce market work and appear...

December 2018

The Future of Ageing in Europe: Making an Asset of Longevity

By Alan Walker This book provides the most comprehensive analysis available of the challenges created by Europe’s ageing population. Grounded in state-of-the-art scientific assessments by leading European researchers, the book is strongly policy focused. Indeed this book contains a detailed account of the policies required across a broad field, from economic sustainability and extending working lives, to healthy ageing, technological innovation, long term care and political citizenship, for the successful adaptation to the challenges of ageing in Europe and globally....

Human Movement Across Border: Key Ingredient Behind Thai Economy and the Future

By Akadet Chaichanavichakit (Waseda University, Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies) Over the past 50 years, immigration has become a strong force throughout the world. Economic opportunity is among one of the most important factors expediting migrant’s decision to move. The destination countries, which in general have relatively higher level of economic development, usually share the same characteristics of intense labor demands, aging population, and declining birth rate. Therefore, migrant workers have become an important, or even integral, part to...

Pension Reform and Return to Work Policies

By Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick For many people, working after beginning retirement benefit collection is a way to enhance financial security by increasing income. Existing research has shown that retirees are sensitive to the Social Security earnings test, which restricts the amount of earnings some beneficiaries can receive. However, little is known about the effects of other types of policies on post-retirement employment. Instead of restricting earnings, many public pension plans restrict the number of hours beneficiaries can work. I use...

OECD Pensions Outlook 2018

The 2018 edition of the OECD Pensions Outlook examines how pension systems are adapting to improve retirement outcomes. It focuses on designing funded pensions and assesses how different pension arrangements can be combined taking into account various policy objectives and risks involved in saving for retirement. It looks at how countries can improve the design of financial incentives, and presents policy guidelines on aligning charges and costs of providing funded pensions. This edition also draws lessons from nationally significant investment...

Waiting on Retirement: Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low-Wage Work

By Mary Gatta America is witnessing a retirement crisis. As the labor market shifts to the gig economy and new strains restrict social security, the American Dream of secure retirement becomes further out of reach for up to half of the population. In Waiting on Retirement, Mary Gatta takes the case of restaurant workers to examine the experiences of low-wage workers who are middle-aged, aging, and past retirement age. She deftly explores the many factors shaping what it means to...

The Effect of Work Disability on the Intention to Retire of Older Workers

By Danilo Cavapozzi (Ca Foscari University of Venice - Dipartimento di Economia; Netspar) & Chiara Dal Bianco (Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova) In this paper, we analyze the effect of work disability on the desire to retire as soon as possible of older workers. We exploit objective health indicators and anchoring vignettes to develop work disability measures enhancing the comparability across individuals of work disability self-assessments. Our results show that, even once controlling for individual fixed-effects, individuals...

Can Information Influence the Social Insurance Participation Decision of China’s Rural Migrants?

By John Giles (World Bank; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)), Xin Meng (Australian National University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics), Guochang Zhao (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE)) This paper uses a randomized information intervention to shed light on whether poor understanding of social insurance, both the process of enrolling and costs and benefits, drives the relatively low rates of participation in urban health insurance and pension programs among China's rural-urban migrants....

November 2018

Immigrants in a Changing Labor Market: Responding to Economic Needs

By Michael Fix,‎ Demetrios G Papademetriou,‎ Madeleine Sumption This volume, which brings together research by leading economists and labor market specialists, examines the role immigrants play in the U.S. workforce, how they fare in good and bad economic times, and the effects they have on native-born workers and the labor sectors in which they are engaged. The book traces the powerful economic forces at play in today's globalized world and includes policy prescriptions for making the American immigration system more...

Fintech for Financial Inclusion: A Framework for Digital Financial Transformation

By Douglas W. Arner (The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law), Ross P. Buckley (University of New South Wales (UNSW) - Faculty of Law), Dirk A. Zetzsche (Universite du Luxembourg - Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance; Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf - Center for Business & Corporate Law (CBC)) Access to finance, financial inclusion and financial sector development have long been major policy objectives. A series of initiatives have aimed to increase access to finance and financial inclusion,...