Suchergebnisse

Retirement age reform in the Russian Federation is widely discussed in recent Russian economic literature. This literature mainly focuses on economic justification of increasing retirement age, less often considers demographic issues. The latter that according to economists point of view provide additional arguments for this reform are critically considered in the article. As indicated in it, none of these issues (population ageing, life expectancy growth, health of the elderly) nowadays provide empirical grounds for making decisions on changes in retirement age. On the contrary, modern demographic processes in Russia give arguments against this reform.

Abstract
In this article, we aim to explain international differences in socio-demographic structure of population among people around retirement age. We further test if transition into retirement is an important factor for obesity. Using Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data, we first document that the Czech Republic has a significant and increasing trend in body mass index (BMI) and obesity (BMI > 29.99) for both men and women aged 50–70 years compared to other countries. Men have much higher level of BMI in comparison to many other European countries, whereas BMI of women is comparable to Estonia and Slovenia. However, we show a little evidence that underlying structure of Czech population with respect to education, occupation, health, age, and so on may explain increasing trend as well as higher level of obesity when compared to other European countries. Furthermore, we show that the transition into retirement is not associated with an increase in BMI. Using fixed effect model, we found that the obesity is directly related to increasing trend in obesity already before entering the retirement.

Abstract
In this article, we aim to explain international differences in socio-demographic structure of population among people around retirement age. We further test if transition into retirement is an important factor for obesity. Using Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data, we first document that the Czech Republic has a significant and increasing trend in body mass index (BMI) and obesity (BMI > 29.99) for both men and women aged 50–70 years compared to other countries. Men have much higher level of BMI in comparison to many other European countries, whereas BMI of women is comparable to Estonia and Slovenia. However, we show a little evidence that underlying structure of Czech population with respect to education, occupation, health, age, and so on may explain increasing trend as well as higher level of obesity when compared to other European countries. Furthermore, we show that the transition into retirement is not associated with an increase in BMI. Using fixed effect model, we found that the obesity is directly related to increasing trend in obesity already before entering the retirement.

The Dutch government abolished mandatory retirement for national-level civil servants in 2008, but not for employees in other sectors. This study analyzes whether national-level civil servants have different attitudes and plans about working beyond normal retirement age than employees in other sectors. Results show no clear differences between the groups. A national ban on mandatory retirement would presumably not lead to many more older workers continuing to work beyond normal retirement, but would need to be integrated in a much broader policy reform that also addresses employment protection legislation and seniority-based wages.

SUMMARYPension reforms rising minimum retirement age force some senior workers to retire later than originally expected. We evaluate the impact of a 2011 Italian reform, implemented during a recession, on youth and prime-age employment. Our research design is based on difference-in-differences and exploits the variations in the intensity of the treatment across local labour markets due to differences in the age structure of the population. We estimate that, for any 1,000 local senior workers locked into employment by the reform, local youth and prime-age employment declined by 273 (−0.86%) and 199 (−0.12%) workers, and senior employment increased by 833 (+2.70%) individuals. The estimated reduction in youth employment is broadly similar to the one induced by earlier reforms, implemented when the economy was growing. We estimate that an important part of the total employment change induced by the 2011 reform is due to higher firm turnover.

China?s pension system is in need of comprehensive reform in that it is fragmented in its coverage and significantly under-funded. Attempts to improve the coverage will likely exacerbate the financial strains. Thus it is urgent to improve the financial sustainability of the system and one policy which has been proposed is to increase the retirement age. There have been similar proposals in many other countries and they are in line with improved health and life-expectancy. In China?s case the partial coverage of the system is related to industry structure with much the best coverage being for government and SOE employees. Since this structure differs considerably across the regions in China, it is likely that a change in retirement age will have significantly different effects across China?s regions. Inter-regional disparities are already very substantial in China and it will be important to know whether changes in pension arrangements will widen or narrow these disparities. It is the object of the research reported in this paper to throw light on this question. We construct a small theoretical model of two regions (coast and interior) having some Chinese characteristics. We distinguish between an informal sector in which workers have no pension coverage and a formal sector in which some workers are covered. In addition we distinguish between skilled and unskilled workers. There are two levels of government: a central government and two regional governments. Behaviour is based on utility maximisation by households and profit-maximisation by firms, with governments being exogenous. The model is solved numerically with parameter values based on recent Chinese data. Within this framework we model the effects of various shocks to the retirement age, the initial effects of which are changes in the labour supplied by skilled households. In the base case we find that in the short run an equi-proportionate increase in the retirement age in the two regions elicits substantially different labour supply responses in the two regions. These differences flow through to relative wage changes, output changes and, eventually, welfare changes. Effects through the budgets of the two regional governments are also important transmission channels. We find that welfare increases in both regions, with the improvement being substantially greater in the interior than in the coast, reflecting the greater relative importance of SOE and government employment in inland provinces. In the long run skilled labour is allowed to migrate from one region to another with the result that inter-regional differences are generally ameliorated.

The European population is aging and, by 2050, Portugal will face a most alarming scenario, with an old-age dependency ratio — i.e. the number of individuals aged 65 or older as a share of the active age population — above 65%, almost double the figure for 2016. Portugal has already undertaken measures to improve the financial resilience of the pension system, but still lacks a better understanding of its social sustainability. We resort to the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to study individual heterogeneity on pension preferences and find that poor health and unemployment are, together with age and the length of the contributory career, key elements to understand early retirement, while late retirement is associated with higher income. Identifying socioeconomic groups with incentives to deviate from the statutory retirement age is crucial to policy makers currently debating the retirement age in Portugal.

Using a regression discontinuity framework, this paper documents a previously unnoticed drop of 7%–8% in the U.S. suicide rate upon reaching age 62 during 1990–2014. This decline is concentrated among men, nearly doubled in size over the most recent decade as the income gap between those just older and younger narrowed, and represents the only trend break among ages 45–79. These findings, along with the observed timing of retirement and benefit claims and research on how income affects suicide, suggest that the likely explanation is Social Security early retirement benefit eligibility rather than retirement per se. (JEL I12, H55)

This paper investigates the causal effects of the announcement of an increase in the statutory pension age on employee retirement expectations. In June 2010, the Dutch government signed a new pension agreement with the employer and employee organizations that entailed an increase in the statutory pension age from 65 currently to 66 in 2020 for all inhabitants born after 1954. Given the expected increase in average life expectancy, it was also decided that in 2025 the pension age would be further increased to 67 for those born after 1959. This new pension agreement received huge media coverage. Using representative matched administrative and survey data of public sector employees, we find that the proposed policy reform increased the expected retirement age by 3.6 months for employees born between 1954 and 1959 and by 10.8 months for those born after 1959. This increase is reflected in a clear shift in the retirement peak from age 65 to ages 66 and 67 for the respective treated cohorts. Men respond less strongly to the policy reform than women, but within couples we find no evidence that the retirement expectations of one spouse are affected by an increase in the statutory pension age of the other. Furthermore, we show that treatment effects are largely driven by highly educated individuals but are lower for employees whose job involves physically demanding tasks or managerial and supervisory tasks.

This article examines inequality and poverty among older people
in Japan. It compares Japan with that of a sample of other OECD countries.
Provisions within the social insurance system that enable old-age
pensioners to work and draw incomes from labor explain some of the
inequality and poverty that is seen in Japan. So, too, do the low rate of
take up of social assistance, the low level of benefits available from the
first tier pension, the uneven coverage of second-tier pensions, the lack
of progressiveness of the income tax system and the fact older people
live in multi-generational households whilst others live alone.