What do we learn about redistribution effects of pension systems from internationally comparable measures of Social Security wealth?

Belloni, Michele; Brugiavini, Agar; Buia, Raluca Elena; Carrino, Ludovico; Cavapozzi, Danilo; Orso, Cristina Elisa; Pasini, Giacomo

doi:10.1017/s1474747219000118

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Both wealth and income are equivalised for household or benefit-unit composition ( Hagenaars et al, 1994 ), and measured in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Euros for comparability across countries. We trim extreme values (the top and bottom 1%) and, following previous studies, apply the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation (arcsinh) to approximate a normal distribution ( Bellemare and Wichman, 2020 ; Belloni et al, 2019 ). The arcsinh approximates the natural logarithm and allows retaining zero- and negative-valued observations (e.g., to capture debt).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Home-Care Use Across Regional Long-term Care Systems in Europe

Floridi¹,

Carrino

Glaser

2020

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives We examine whether socioeconomic inequalities in home-care use among disabled older adults are related to the contextual characteristics of long-term care (LTC) systems. Specifically, we investigate how wealth and income gradients in the use of informal, formal, and mixed home-care vary according to the degree to which LTC systems offer alternatives to families as the main providers of care (“de-familization”). Method We use survey data from SHARE on disabled older adults from 136 administrative regions in 12 European countries and link them to a regional indicator of de-familization in LTC, measured by the number of available LTC beds in care homes. We use multinomial multilevel models, with and without country fixed-effects, to study home-care use as a function of individual-level and regional-level LTC characteristics. We interact financial wealth and income with the number of LTC beds to assess whether socioeconomic gradients in home-care use differ across regions according to the degree of de-familization in LTC. Results We find robust evidence that socioeconomic status inequalities in the use of mixed-care are lower in more de-familized LTC systems. Poorer people are more likely than the wealthier to combine informal and formal home-care use in regions with more LTC beds. SES inequalities in the exclusive use of informal or formal care do not differ by the level of de-familization. Discussion The results suggest that de-familization in LTC favors the combination of formal and informal home-care among the more socioeconomically disadvantaged, potentially mitigating health inequalities in later life.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Home-Care Use Across Regional Long-term Care Systems in Europe

Floridi¹,

Carrino

Glaser

2020

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Following previous studies, we applied the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation in the household wealth variable to address the skewed distribution and zero- and negative-valued observations to capture debt, for instance. The coefficients of arcsin-transformed variables can be interpreted similarly to the coefficients of log-transformed variables [ 46 , 47 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments across Japan and Europe: the role of health expenditure and infrastructure

Quashie

Brandt

et al. 2023

Int J Equity Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although prior research has provided insights into the association between country-level factors and health inequalities, key research gaps remain. First, most previous studies examine subjective rather than objective health measures. Second, the wealth dimension in health inequalities is understudied. Third, a handful of studies explicitly focus on older adults. To bridge these research gaps, this study measures wealth-related inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments and examines the extent to which welfare states moderate wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments among older people across Japan and Europe. We utilized harmonized data on non-institutionalized individuals aged 50–75 from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (N = 31,969 for physical impairments and 31,348 for cognitive impairments). Our multilevel linear regression analyses examined whether national public health spending and healthcare access resources explained cross-country differences in wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments. We applied a concentration index to quantify the degree of wealth inequalities in impairments. The findings indicate that inequalities in both impairment outcomes favored wealthier individuals in all countries, but the magnitude of inequality varied by country. Furthermore, a higher share of public health spending, lower out-of-pocket expenditure, and higher investment in healthcare resources were associated with lower wealth inequalities, especially for physical impairments. Our findings suggest that different health interventions and policies may be needed to mitigate specific impairment inequalities.

show abstract

“…First, whereas most previous studies of the Wealth Decumulation (or Retirement Saving) Puzzle examine the case of a particular country, we include a large number of European countries in our analysis, making it possible to make cross-country comparisons (the only similar study with which we are familiar is Romiti and Rossi, 2014, but this study focuses on the impact of financial literacy). We control for inter-country differences in government policies, institutions, customs, etc., by including country fixed effects and/or by including country-specific variables such as the average pension replacement ratio for the country in which the respondent lives (see, for example, Belloni et al, 2020). Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to shed light on the relative importance of bequest motives and precautionary saving as determinants of the wealth accumulation (saving) behavior of the retired elderly in the case of the major European countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Do the Retired Elderly in Europe Decumulate Their Wealth? The Importance of Bequest Motives, Precautionary Saving, Public Pensions, and Homeownership

Horioka¹,

Ventura²

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We use microdata on a large number of European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to examine the wealth accumulation (saving) behavior of the retired elderly in Europe. We find that less than half of the retired elderly in Europe are decumulating their wealth and that the average wealth accumulation rate of the retired elderly in Europe is positive though relatively moderate (6.6 percent over a 3-year period). These findings suggest that the Wealth Decumulation Puzzle (the tendency of the retired elderly to not decumulate their wealth or to decumulate their wealth more slowly than expected) applies in the case of Europe. Moreover, our regression results suggest that bequest motives, generous public pension systems, and the reluctance of retired elderly homeowners to sell or borrow against their owner-occupied housing are the primary explanations for the existence of the Wealth Decumulation Puzzle in Europe.

show abstract

What do we learn about redistribution effects of pension systems from internationally comparable measures of Social Security wealth?

Cited by 13 publications

References 19 publications

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Home-Care Use Across Regional Long-term Care Systems in Europe

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Home-Care Use Across Regional Long-term Care Systems in Europe

Wealth inequalities in physical and cognitive impairments across Japan and Europe: the role of health expenditure and infrastructure

Do the Retired Elderly in Europe Decumulate Their Wealth? The Importance of Bequest Motives, Precautionary Saving, Public Pensions, and Homeownership

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About