How Public Pension affects Elderly Labor Supply and Well-being: Evidence from India

Abstract

We study the effect of a recent expansion in India's National Old Age Pension Scheme on elderly well-being. Estimates suggest that public pension has a modestly negative effect on the employment of elderly/near elderly men with a primary or lower education but no effect of the employment of similar women. Pension raised family expenditures, lowering poverty, and the effect was smaller on families headed by illiterate persons suggesting lower pension coverage of this most disadvantaged group. Further, households spent most of the pension income on medical care and education. We find some weak evidence that pension raised longevity.

Family Transfers, Coresidency, Elderly Labor Supply and Welfare Perspective: Evidence From Indonesia

“…Some of the results of this study are also consistent with previous studies, but several other results are different if we use two waves of IFLS data. For example, when we use IFLS 4 and 5 data separately, the results are in line with (Kaushal 2014, Cameron & Cobb-Clark 2008, Utomo et al 2018, French 2005 which states that firstly, older people have higher education will reduce working hours when they are older. Secondly, the elderly women who get older will reduce the number of hours they work even more than the reduction in the older man.…”

“…They argue that living with a daughter increases parents' psychological well-being rather than living with a son in Thailand. Jurnal BPPK Volume 13 Nomor 1 Tahun 2020 2.3 Demographics Variables (Age, Education, Health) Kaushal (2014), using Indian statistics utilized age and education as a control variable, examine the impact of program pension schemes in India on elderly employment and family expenditure. He found that older men who had an education under secondary education tend to continue working when they were older.…”

Old Age Pension Scheme in India: Distributional Impacts

“…Studies on India's poverty among elderly often do not relate old age pensions with poverty, while some studies on old age pensions, including Pension Parishad (2018), do not relate such pensions with poverty. This evident research gap (see Chopra & Pudussery, 2014;Kaushal, 2013;Pal & Palacios, 2011;Pandey, 2009;Srivastava & Mohanty, 2012) is remarkable. For instance, using the 52nd round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) data on household consumption expenditure in 1995-96, Pal and Palacios (2011) estimated poverty among the elderly, in terms of head-count ratio by using official state-level poverty lines, by household and individual levels for rural areas in 15 states of India.…”

“…Further, the incidence of poverty showed no significant difference between elderly and non-elderly households, and economic deprivation was similar between elderly and non-elderly households. Kaushal (2013) estimated, among others, the impact of IGNOAPS on household monthly expenditure by its composition, using employment and consumption expenditure data from the NSS 61st round (2004-05) and the NSS 64th round (2007-08). The empirical results included evidence that the public pension scheme had positive effects on household expenditures.…”

The impact of cash transfers on child outcomes in rural Thailand: Evidence from a social pension reform

“…Empirical evidence suggests that such policies have been successful in terms of increasing the wellbeing of the elderly, e.g. by facilitating a reduction in labor supply at earlier ages especially for men (Carvalho Filho, 2008, Kaushal, 2014, Juárez and Pfutze, 2015, Galiani et al, 2016, and by enhancing mental health and nutritional intake (Galiani et al, 2016, Téllez-Rojo et al, 2013.In fact, the empirical literature on the impact of social pensions goes well beyond the wellbeing of the elderly. For instance, pension benefits may allow prime-age adults to migrate in order to find (better) employment (Posel et al, 2006, Ardington et al, 2009, or they may enable migrants to reduce transfers made to elderly pensioners left behind especially if households are very poor (Jensen, 2004, Maitra and Ray, 2003, Fan, 2010, Juarez, 2009.…”