Out with the Old,In with the Old: A Closer Look at Younger Versus Older Elderly Migration*

Objective. This research examines the migration behavior of the elderly, recognizing that the older and younger elderly may make different decisions and have different consequences for the states in which they live. Methods. Using U.S. Census migration flow data, we describe the movements of the younger and older elderly. Our econometric analysis brings together the wisdom of elderly migration research that focuses on motives (amenity vs. return/assistance) and the Tiebout‐related research that considers the effects of policy. Results. We find that all elderly age groups avoid moving to states with high estate/inheritance/gift taxes, although the effect weakens with age. Likewise, the younger elderly appear to be “shopping around” for destinations with a temperate climate and favorable government policies regarding income taxes and welfare spending, whereas the older elderly are more likely to be “driven out” of their origin state by a high cost of living and income and property taxes. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that both the patterns of migration and the factors that affect migration decisions differ between the younger and older elderly.     

Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: A comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state

Heap J, Lennartsson C, Thorslund M. Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: a comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state To experience coexisting disadvantages – the simultaneous lack of several different welfare resources – implies a hampered ability to manage one's living conditions. Here, we study coexisting disadvantages in the oldest population compared with younger age groups in Sweden, by drawing on two linked, nationally representative surveys (n = 5,392). The measurement of coexisting disadvantages included physical health, psychological health, frequency of social contact, cash margin and political resources. The highest odds of coexisting disadvantages were found after age 75 – age groups that are frequently excluded from studies of coexisting disadvantages. This pattern persisted when controlling for socio‐demographic and socio‐economic characteristics. The age pattern was partly driven by the high prevalence of physical health problems in the older population. However, even when excluding physical health problems, the odds of coexisting disadvantages were highest among people older than 85 – the fastest‐growing segment of the population in many Western countries.     

The determinants of income mobility of older people in England and South Korea

This paper adopts a longitudinal approach toward examining what lies behind income mobility of older people aged 50 and over in England and aged 45 and over in South Korea over the period between 2006 and 2012, using panel data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). The breakdown of income mobility which takes into account different type of division of the elderly population and income sources are also performed. The findings reveal that income growth has very little impact on aggregate income mobility in England, while it is crucial for the income mobility levels in Korea. There is a great deal of income mobility among single people under the age of 65 in England, while older people who are aged 65 or above and live alone experienced a greater variation in their income over time in Korea. In the case of breakdown of income mobility by income sources, it appears that labor income is the most important determinant of mobility in both countries and income from self‐employment for Korea and income from social transfers in England also plays an important contribution to income mobility.     

Structural pressures, social policy and poverty

The purpose of this article is twofold. The first aim is to examine 15 OECD countries from the point of view of the so-called third-generation studies, analysing if the development of poverty and income transfers has been uniform in countries classified under the same welfare state models. This has been done to test how appropriate it is to use welfare state models as an analytical tool in comparative welfare state research. The second aim is to examine the effect of different structural factors on poverty and income transfers. Obtained results indicate that two demographic variables studied behave somewhat differently. The share of older people in the population is – not very surprisingly – connected to an increase in income transfers. In the case of younger population groups, the results are the opposite. The results show that the greater the proportion of older people in the population, the lower the poverty rates. Social policy has in many countries consisted primarily of pension policy, and investments in the elderly population are now beginning to bear fruit. Good pension schemes diminish the immediate poverty risk of older people. As a consequence of their increased well-being, the overall poverty rate will fall. In addition to demographic factors, the results indicate that the unemployment rate is connected, on the one hand, to growth in income transfers and, on the other hand, also to increases in poverty. However, unemployment's effect on poverty is not straightforward. The direct effect is indeed an increase in poverty but, if income transfers are taken into account, the indirect effect is a decrease in poverty, since unemployment increases income transfers (unemployment benefits), which on their side alleviate poverty.     

中国社会养老的文化分析

本文关注福利文化对社会养老制度和实践的影响,从文化视角审视中国现代社会养老项目的发展,揭示了老年社会福利模式与特定社会政策制定者对社会福利概念的理解和传统福利文化之间的关系。限定主义的价值观和公民权利意识的缺失阻碍着中国老年社会福利模式从剩余性到制度性的转变,抑制了社会福利在缩小老年群体内阶层差异方面的作用,促使了福利资源分配的不公。尽管人口老龄化和福利国家的文化扩散正在促使中国老年社会福利呈多元化发展趋势,多元福利体系的最终建立还有赖于社会公众和政策制定者对个人和国家关系的重新解读。     

The decomposition of social policy in Sweden

The traditionally strong dominance of the state in social security in Sweden has been replaced by a more mixed structure. Individuals are increasingly covered by a mix of private welfare, employment-based corporate welfare and state programmes. There are several reasons behind this development: shifts in the economic and political conditions, strong tax incentives for the individual to buy private insurance, increasing problems for the public system in covering the loss of income for middle and high income earners, repeated media reports that the public welfare system will go bankrupt in the near future and increasing reports on free-riding and cheating in the area of public insurance. The advantage of the more mixed system may be its similarities to social insurance in some of the European Community Member States. However, from a social policy point of view there are also some dangers. There will be increasing tendencies towards inequality. In particular, the difference in social security conditions between the skilfully employed and marginal groups will be even more marked. The unemployed, the young and people with physical or mental handicaps will be left outside the private and corporate structures. There is also a marked risk that some individuals be reach a level of coverage well above the loss of income, and this will be a disincentive to work. Private and corporate welfare systems are also largely invisible in the sense that individuals may not even know under what conditions they are covered. Another problem is that public attitudes towards the public welfare system will increasingly become more negative and different in various parts of the population. The effect of this may be a vicious circle: public social policy becomes increasingly inefficient and unpopular among the working population and remains only as a marginal system for small marginal groups.     

Work, Family, State and Market: Income Packaging for Older Households

We use the concept of "income packaging" to explore the economic position of older people historically and comparatively. Income packaging focuses on the evolving economic role of the State in occupational pensions, earnings and assets. By contrast, the life course perspective focuses on the relations across generations. While these approaches differ in emphasis, they also overlap and are complementary. The idea of income packaging was first developed by Rein, Rainwater and Schwartz (1986) in a comparative study of three mature welfare states (the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States) in order to highlight the importance of examining both the source and the level of income and to correct for the neglect of enterprise and the overemphasis on the development of the welfare state. The concept has been used by historians to describe the coping strategy of older people in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on these historical studies, we examine the evolution of incomepackaging among older people over time and across countries.     

Attitudes towards the welfare state have several dimensions

The dimensions and structures of opinions on the welfare state are not well known. This study distinguishes five dimensions based on previous literature: responsibility for welfare, financing of the welfare state, the use of benefits, the adequacy of the welfare state benefits and the effects of the welfare state. One or more attitude indicators are formed for each dimension by means of factor analysis of empirical material. Examination of the correlations between the dimensions and attitudes yields two opinion structures. A supportive attitude structure is founded on the concept that public authorities have responsibility for welfare services, a positive attitude towards public financing of welfare services, and on the concepts that the amount and quality of services and the level of income transfers is not adequate. The critical cluster of attitudes is formed by the reliance on private responsibility, negative attitude towards public financing and on the concepts that benefits are overused and that the welfare state makes its clients passive. Finally, the variation in attitudes among the population of Finland are studied by means of regression analysis. Social class, age and political party sympathies are the most important explanatory factors for a range of attitudes.     

Old-age Pensions in Spain: Recent Reforms and Some of Their Consequences for the Risk of Poverty

The starting point of this study is based on the supposition that the successive reforms carried out on the Spanish system of old‐age pensions since the 1980s have altered both the intergenerational distribution of income and the risk of poverty for the elderly. The article will first outline how demographic factors and personal incomes affect the risk of poverty among the elderly. The second part focuses attention on the mediating role played by the social security system in the distribution of intergenerational income, and underlines how the adoption of a longitudinal viewpoint of the intergenerational positions helps us to understand the development of the risk of poverty among the elderly. The third part describes in brief the successive reforms that were carried out on the Spanish regime of retirement pensions. Finally, an analysis of the evolution of the personal incomes of the elderly and younger generations has been made, based on the data collected by the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001. This analysis suggests that the reforms have increased the risk of poverty among the over‐60s owing to a combination of two factors. On the one hand, there has been an increasing tendency among the over‐60s to stop working completely, which has reduced job earnings especially for men aged between 60 and 70. Even more important has been the failure of public pensions to keep pace with the increase in the standard of living, though it is true that they have helped maintain the average purchasing power of the less well‐off old‐age pensioners.     

Disposable income differences between immigrants and natives in Sweden

This paper investigates whether there are differences in Sweden between immigrants and natives in disposable income and in the probability of having a low disposable income. By investigating disposable income and the probability of having a low disposable income, our study illuminates to what extent taxes and transfers in the Swedish welfare state manage to compensate for differences in income from work between immigrants and natives. The study shows that there are differences between different groups both in disposable income and in the probability of having a low disposable income and that these differences remain when we control for factors such as age, gender, education and civil status. Early immigrants from the Nordic countries have a higher disposable income than does the native population whereas recent immigrants have a substantially lower disposable income and a higher probability of remaining poor than both earlier immigrants and the native population. In summary, our study shows that the differences in disposable income between immigrants and natives are indeed smaller than the differences in income from work but that the differences are not completely counterbalanced through the tax and transfer system.     

应对人口老龄化挑战的中国道路

老年人口的养老负担问题、代际关系问题以及价值实现问题是影响中国未来可持续发展的三个关键性问题。从经济学视角看,就是生之者寡和食之者众的关系问题;从社会学角度看,有一个资源和权力分配的代际冲突和老年价值实现问题;从人口学视角看,计划生育弱势老人的比例在上升,今后中国会出现大量的“计划生育老人”,提出“计生老人”概念的意义在于,国家各级政府和部门要凸显人口计生公共服务的公益性和福利性。中国作为一个先老后富的国家,人口老龄化带来的挑战是长期的、多样的。本文提出了成功老龄化的战略构想,包括健康老龄化、积极老龄化、和谐老龄化和幸福老龄化。在应对人口老龄化和老龄问题挑战的过程中,中国社会逐渐走出了一条传统与现代相结合的中国道路,概括说：就是以家庭养老、单位（集体）养老和自我养老为基础,以社区助老、福利助老、慈善助老为补充的中国道路。最后,本文作者对本专题几位学者的观点在“中国问题和中国选择”的框架内进行了综合性的介绍和评论。     

Christian democracy, social democracy and the paradoxes of earnings-related social security

This article compares the retirement policies of Belgium and Sweden in order to reveal the different incentive structures built into the pensions systems prevailing in countries that are taken to represent different approaches to welfare capitalism. It addresses the question of why in a Christian Democratic welfare state that is said to grant pensions rights on the basis of merit and past work performance one can find extremely low labour-force participation rates among elderly workers, while in a Social Democratic welfare state that is supposed to grant pension rights relatively independent of past labour-market performance, one can find quite high participation rates amongst that section of the labour force. This apparent paradox is explained in terms of the different purposes of the early-retirement schemes in the two countries: in Belgium they were primarily part of a strategy to combat (youth) unemployment, in Sweden they had more to do with reforms that sought to accomplish a 'humanisation of work' by softening the abrupt transition from work into retirement.     

Protecting the ageing poor or strengthening the market economy: the case of the Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund

The Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) launched by the Hong Kong government seems to be a residual welfare state's strategy to cope with an ageing population and, at the same time, preserve a minimal welfare state and further enhance economic development. The MPF can only provide limited protection for a limited number of employees; many older people still have to depend on financial support from their families or have to work. On the other hand, the MPF immediately boosts the economy by creating more jobs for the financial services sector and by providing more business opportunities for banks and insurance companies. Thus, the MPF has consolidated the foundation of Hong Kong's capitalism by socialising and incorporating the whole working population in the market economy but has provided little protection for their old age.     

Factors associated with the preventive healthcare service use among older adults in Korea: Focusing on age variation

The importance of preventive health examinations for older adults has been well emphasized due to an increase in chronic diseases associated with age. In this study, we estimated the preventive health examination participation rate and its associated factors among the elderly with specific focuses on the moderating effects between age and socioeconomic status. We used data drawn from the first to sixth waves (4164 people) of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging for the elderly aged 65 and over. A generalized linear model was used to address research questions. The results showed that the participation rate decreased as older adults age. The interaction between age and education was also significant, indicating that older adults with higher education were more likely to use a preventive health examination compared to those with lower education. There were no significant interaction effects between income and age. Based on the findings, implications for theory and practice were discussed with specific focuses on age‐specific approaches in preventive healthcare services for older adults.     

Work or welfare – a dilemma in the declining Swedish welfare state

The number of welfare recipients among people of working age increased from 1985 to 1992 in Sweden. Unexpectedly, this increase also took place under the economic boom during the late 1980s, characterized by very low unemployment. This is shown in a study of a 10% representative sample of the Swedish population. Not only has the number of welfare recipients increased, there has been a parallel increase in the relative number of people who are gainfully employed. This trend prevails until 1991, when the employment rates start going down. Until then, the development is characterized by growing polarization (bifurcation) into those who depend on work for their subsistence and those who depend on transfer payments from the welfare system. The development of welfare dependence has been different for men and women. The reasons for this development are discussed. Data about the increasing cost of social security are also presented, showing that the welfare system has not been in any immediate economic crisis from 1985 to 1993.     

Welfare consequences of the Swedish disability service system

It has been frequently discussed whether the Swedish disability service system is efficient and whether it meets the demands of equity. The costs of the system for support and service were recently estimated to be USD 11 billion. This article describes the welfare situation for disabled people compared with the general population in Sweden. The Swedish disability service system has managed to provide disabled people with a disposable income over the subsistence minimum in Sweden, but also in the same range as for the general population. In other welfare parameters, disabled people appear to have great welfare losses compared with the general population. Evaluations of handicap technologies (such as service and support) aiming to reduce or compensate for these welfare losses have to meet the requirements of equity and efficiency of the Swedish disability service system.     

From the state to the family or to the market? Consequences of reduced residential eldercare in Sweden

This article analyses the changing roles of the state, family and market in providing care for older people in Sweden, in relation to Scandinavian welfare ideals of universalism and de‐familisation. Since 2000 every fourth residential care bed has disappeared and the increase in homecare services has not compensated for the decline. Instead family care (defined here as help from adult children and other non‐cohabiting family or friends) has increased in all social groups: help by daughters mainly among older people with shorter education and help by sons among those highly educated. Use of privately purchased services has also increased but continues to play a marginal role. Family care remains more common among older people with less education whereas privately purchased services are more common among those with higher education. This dualisation of care challenges universalism, and working‐class daughters continue to be most affected by eldercare cutbacks.     

The effects of age structure on the labor force and retirement in China

What are the current and future trends in age structure in China as it relates to labor force and retirement? And, what is the impact of the one-child policy on these trends? A trend analysis identifies that as the parents of the one-child family age, China will have an older population, proportionately, with a smaller middle-aged population to support them in the traditional manner, unlike previous generations. A burden will be placed on the working age population as the one-child generation will have to help support two parents if single, and four parents if married, particularly in urban areas. This will also impact rural areas where formal systems of elderly support are not yet fully developed. In terms of labor resources, the elderly may be better supported in old age if they stay in the labor force for a longer period. However, younger workers need employment, while the old must work to offset the lack of formal support, and the potential decline in intergenerational family support due to the changing age-structure. The challenge facing policy-makers is to bring about a balance between employment patterns and support between generations.     

The political economy of changes in family and old‐age welfare policy spending: Analysis of OECD countries, 1998–2011

This study investigated whether in times of budget constraints and in countries with relatively large family policy spending, family policy has an advantage in the budget competition with old‐age expenditures, compared with countries with a lower level of family policy spending. We employed pooled time‐series cross‐sectional analysis of 24 OECD countries from 1998 to 2011. Our findings suggest that the initial level of family spending tends to moderate the crowding‐out effect of old‐age spending, indicating that the more mature a family spending policy is, the more it resists budget competition from old‐age policy. Furthermore, the size of government debt was found to have an insignificant effect on welfare budgeting. Our findings indicate that retrenchment in welfare spending for old age cannot be fully explained by budget constraints. Politics among interest groups associated with different welfare programmes can be an important determinant in explaining changes in spending on each welfare programme.     

The Pro‐Elderly Bias of Social Policies in Israel: A Historical‐Institutional Account

Accelerated population ageing and high voting turnout rates among elderly voters in recent decades have led many social scientists to predict increasing pro‐elderly biases in the social policies of mature welfare states. This article investigates and empirically estimates the evolving age orientation of social policies in Israel, which is a comparatively young society that has nevertheless aged significantly since independence in 1948. We present a historical and qualitative overview of the development of policy efforts towards different age groups and develop an Elderly/Non‐elderly Spending Ratio at four points in time between 1975 and 2005. We argue that in its first five decades, the Israeli welfare state uniquely combined a broadly universalistic and citizenship‐based outlook with a number of significant particularistic spending biases towards specific subgroups. But from the second half of the 1990s onwards, the pro‐elderly policy bias of the Israeli welfare state has strongly increased. These findings support Lynch's thesis for 21 OECD countries, which posits that a shift from a universal to a more occupationally based institutional model of welfare will result in a higher pro‐elderly bias of social spending.