Restructuring Australian retirement incomes: Implications of changing work and retirement patterns

Work and retirement patterns among older Australian women and men are changing. In this paper, the interactions between these patterns and social security policies are contrasted with the desirable direction of work and retirement later in life. The change in Australia's retirement incomes system towards the "three pillar model" described by the World Bank poses particular issues for late life employment and retirement, especially for older women.     

Risk and time preferences of entrepreneurs: evidence from a Danish field experiment

To understand how small business entrepreneurs respond to government policy one has to know their risk and time preferences. Are they risk averse, or have high discount rates, such that they are hard to motivate? We have conducted a set of field experiments in Denmark that will allow a direct characterization of small business entrepreneurs in terms of these traits. We build on experimental tasks that are well established in the literature. The results do not suggest that small business entrepreneurs are more or less risk averse than the general population under the assumption of Expected Utility Theory. However, we generally find an S-shaped probability weighting function for both small business entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, with entrepreneurs being more optimistic about the chance of occurrence for the best outcome in lotteries with real monetary outcomes. The results also point to a significant difference in individual discount rates between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs: entrepreneurs are willing to wait longer for certain rewards than the general population.     

Risk management in a globalizing world: An empirical analysis of individual preferences in 26 European countries

The risks that individuals face in everyday life, such as illness and unemployment, can be covered using market, government, or community mechanisms. The market can function with a lower level of solidarity compared to the other two mechanisms; the government mechanism requires the highest level of compulsory solidarity and communities are associated with voluntary solidarity. Social context affects individual preferences with regard to any one of these mechanisms. This article investigates to what extent these preferences are influenced by globalization: the economic, social and political openness of countries. The dataset used in this study combines data from the European Values Study 1999-2000 (EVS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the KOF Index of Globalization, and contains information about 31,554 people living in 26 European countries. The results derived from logistic multilevel analysis show that preferences towards the organization of solidarity are related to the different dimensions of globalization.     

Low Fertility and the Australian Dream: The Family Background of Australian Children

Despite the attention focused on changes in the family in Australia, the majority of children come from conventional family backgrounds. Most parents still pursue the ‘Australian dream’ of nuclear family life and home ownership. Yet while traditional goals remain Influential among parents, economic and other constraints mean that only a minority of children actually spend their first fifteen years in circumstances approaching a realisation of the ‘Australian dream’.     

Avoiding the curves: Direct elicitation of time preferences

We propose and test a new method for eliciting curvature-controlled discount rates that are invariant to the form of the utility function. Our method uses a single elicitation task and obtains individual discount rates without knowledge of risk attitude or parametric assumptions about the form of the utility function. We compare our method to a double elicitation technique in which the utility function and discount rate are jointly estimated. Our experiment shows that these methods yield consistent estimates of the discount rate, which is reassuring given the wide range of estimates in the literature. We find little evidence of probability weighting, but in a second experiment, we observe that discount rates are sensitive to the length of the front-end delay, suggesting present bias. When the front-end delay is at least two weeks, we estimate average discount rates to be 11.3 and 12.2% in the two experiments.     

Inducing risk-neutral preferences: Further analysis of the data

The lottery payoff procedure does not successfully induce risk-neutral bidding behavior in first-price, sealedbid auctions. This conclusion follows from both ordinary-least-squares estimation with natural data and leastabsolute-deviation estimation with transformed data from numerous experimental designs. Lottery payoffs do not succeed in inducing behavior predicted from standard expected utility theory assumptions or from assumed utility from winning and/or income thresholds. In contrast, first-price auction experiments with monetary payoffs yield results that are consistent with general models of bidding in the independent private values information environment.     

Changing faces: the story of two Canadian street youth shelters

This study addresses the relationship between street youth shelters and formal child welfare systems in Toronto, Canada. Two case examples, Covenant House (CH) and Youth Without Shelter (YWS), are examined through archival material, participant observations and structured interviews with 21 front-line and managerial shelter workers. The findings suggest that both shelters have formed reciprocal and unequal partnerships with formal child-welfare organisations. The consequences of such an arrangement are threefold: (1) CH and YWS no longer possess an internal environment to support traditional street youths; (2) both shelters have strayed from their original intentions; and (3) many shelter workers express frustration within this dynamic. Several recommendations are put forward to support the survival of youth shelters: advocating increased government daily rates; seeking a balance between building a legitimate public image and an alternative street youth reputation; making every effort to house hard-core street youths; and building innovative internal programmes to act as referral points.     

Navigations between regulations and gut instinct: the unveiling of collective memory in decision‐making processes where teenagers are placed in residential care

The decision to take a young person away from his or her family into out‐of‐home care and treatment is the most drastic intervention within the statutory powers bestowed upon social services. The results of reports on the quality of residential treatment reveal that state supervision has not proven to be a good substitute for parental care. In this paper we analyse the decision‐making process when young persons are placed in residential care. Focus groups and individual interviews with different stakeholders were conducted. The results show that the placements are a collective process involving negotiations between the different parties with a coordinating social worker in the middle, with the aim to bring something to build hope on in often desperate situations, regardless of the specific treatment method used. To inform the process, the social workers draw on a ‘collective memory’ shared among colleagues in the department. Important signs of quality of a residential unit were the relational and collaborative competence from the staff. The inclination to use soft, diffuse information in decision‐making shows a striking lack of evidence upon which social workers can build well‐informed and knowledge‐based decisions.     

The evolving concept of "retirement": Looking forward to the year 2050

Economic growth, more than demography, will determine the nature of future retirement. With growth has come a steady increase in retirement years. Now, however, there is increasing interest in "rolling back" these gains. Alternatively, some scholars propose a different framework for evaluating "work" late in life — one that includes altruism, citizenship, stewardship, creativity, and the search for faith. Attitudes toward retirement in the future are likely to move sharply away from the simplistic view of all work before retirement and no work after. Some of the resulting changes we can expect to see are more part-time work, expanded "citizen participation," and an older workforce with more training and retraining.     

Social needs and the roles of governments and markets: The case of retirement pensions

The present paper examines the role of the State and the market in meeting social needs, with particular emphasis on retirement pensions. The argument proposed is based primarily on an analysis of recently observed ideological developments as well as of the results of various empirical studies conducted on the topic. A review of several theories and current debates on the issue constitutes the introductory part of the analysis. This is followed by a discussion of retirement pensions and the shortcomings of governments in this domain and by a review of the evidence obtained on the interaction between retirement pensions, investment and growth. Data and calculations relating to several developed and developing countries are presented as an illustration of the State's responsibility for social needs. The conclusion presents some reflections based on empirical evidence and a synthesis of insights obtained in this study.     

The effect of immigration in the retirement age reforms: learning from a numerical example

This article examines the role played by the low-skilled immigrant labour force in countries aiming to reform their public pension systems by postponing the pensionable age. With an overlapping-generations model in continuous time and a fully redistributive pension system, the results of this article suggest that immigration could imply a delay in the pensionable retirement age. Further, we find that the preference for a delay in retirement age increases with the labour productivity of both immigrants and native population.     

Trade unions and the elderly population: is retirement still linked to the sphere of work?

Although trade unions focus on the labor force, they are important for the retirees as well. In Germany there are three main reasons for this importance. 1) Quite unintentionally, the unions - with 1.7 million retired members - have become one of the largest old-age organizations, 2) In a corporatist work and welfare regime such as Germany, the unions are one of the key actors not only in labor market policy but also in social policy, including the generational contract of old-age security. 3) The unions potentially link the retirees to the sphere of work, and thus to the concerns and conflicts of the work society. In an aging society, the saliency of such a link between work and retirement is increasing. On the one hand, with their active membership decreasing, unions are compelled to turn also to those who have retired from work to maintain their organizational strength. On the other hand, the retirees have a greater interest in union activity. By calling for a larger share in union affairs, they present the unions with an organizational dilemma. This article discusses the practice and potential of the link between unions and their older members from both perspectives: from that of the unions and their interest in the retirees and from that of the retirees and their interest in maintaining membership. Our empirical basis is a multi-level study of unions and old-age politics in Germany, including some steps towards comparison with other European countries. The study focuses on the German Metal Workers' Union - with its 3 million members the biggest single trade union not only in Germany but in all the Western world. After introducing our approach, we follow the three points outlined above. We begin by examining the evolution of the membership share of retirees in the unions. Secondly, we discuss the role of the unions in the corporatist system, especially with respect to policies concerning the elderly population. The third point, the link between retirement and the work sphere, is treated by first looking at the organizational supply of union activities for the elderly population, and then at the demand by elderly members. Finally, we briefly address the possible directions for the future, especially with regard to models of organizational representation.     

Students in out-of-home care: Their experiences of Transforming Educational Achievement for Children at Risk,an Australian education programme

Children living in out-of-home care are at greater risk of poor educational outcomes compared to other children. To address their educational needs, several programs have been developed. Within a qualitative paradigm, this study explored the experiences of students about their involvement in TEACHaR (Transforming Educational Achievement for Children at Risk), a specialized education programme. Eight students (aged 13 to 18 years) from the programme participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Responses were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Participants indicated that the programme provided individualized and flexible academic support, reduced their shame and embarrassment and provided them with more than academic support. They highlighted the importance of the student–educator relationship, and the need for encouragement and motivation to pursue their educational goals. Finally, findings report on how COVID-19 impacts on student experiences of the programme. Recommendations for the development and improvement of education programs for students in out-of-home care conclude this paper.     

The decline of substitute pathways into retirement: Empirical evidence from the Dutch health care sector

Early retirement schemes and disability insurance in the Netherlands have undergone several reforms in recent decades. The reforms have increased incentives for older workers to continue working and have decreased the roles of “substitute pathways” into retirement. This article gives an overview of the reforms and, using administrative data for workers in the health care sector, tests a number of hypotheses about the labour market participation of older workers. The results offer two main findings: i) that the Dutch reforms have indeed been effective, as the labour force participation rate of older workers has increased; and ii) the concept of “substitute pathways” has become less relevant as the use of disability insurance has been closed off as an exit route to early retirement. Nevertheless, caution is required before generalizing the implications of these Dutch findings to other OECD countries.     

At the nexus of risk and time preferences: An experimental investigation

Although many economic decisions involve choices between uncertain outcomes occurring at different times, most theoretical and empirical work restricts attention to one dimension or another. In this paper, we investigate whether both risk and time preferences can be represented by a single parameter. We collect experimental data to estimate models which allows for a disentanglement of risk and time preferences. Results reveal that the discounted expected utility model assumption, that risk and time preferences can be explained by a single parameter, is not supported by the data. The model estimates imply people prefer to delay the resolution of risky outcomes.     

France: working longer takes time,in spite of reforms to raise the retirement age

Examination of the French situation from a comparative European perspective exposes the country's poor performance with regard to the employment of seniors and the prolongation of working life. Despite a recent rise in the employment rate of 55–59 year‐olds, worrisome signs have appeared, such as the steep rise in unemployment for this age category; this is indicative of the increasing vulnerability of ageing workers in the labour market. This critical analysis of twenty years of French public policies related to older workers seeks to identify the reasons for France's lag in making working life longer. The principal reason seems to be that public policies have nearly exclusively focused on increasing the supply of senior labour without adequately taking into account incentives for stimulating corporate demand for it. The many pension reforms undertaken from 2003 to 2014 have sought to lift the institutional obstacles to working longer. Accordingly, they have raised both the legal retirement age and the requisite number of quarters of contributions for entitlement to a full pension under Social Security. But effective, active labour market policies for stimulating the demand for senior labour have been lacking.     

Gambling in Australian Indigenous communities: the state of play

Gambling has both positive aspects and negative effects for Australian Indigenous gamblers and families. While traditional card games organised by the communities themselves have been found to have important social value, there is increasing evidence that commercial gambling such as gaming machines (‘pokies‘), casinos and TAB betting has a range of far‐reaching negative social and economic consequences for Indigenous population groups. However an understanding of participation by Indigenous people in contemporary gambling is still undeveloped and is dominated by western concepts. The cultural distinctiveness and complexity of Indigenous Australia create profound conceptual and methodological difficulties with the potential to distort the research process and outcomes, as well as policy solutions. The current lack of understanding also impacts on the cultural relevance and effectiveness of service provision for Indigenous gamblers, their families and communities.