Public/Private Pension Mix,Income Inequality and Poverty among the Elderly in Europe: An Empirical Analysis Using New and Revised OECD Data

Prior studies have suggested that higher public pensions are associated with lower income inequality among the elderly, whereas the reverse is true for private pensions. Van Vliet et al. ( 2012 ) empirically test whether relative shifts from public to private pension schemes entail higher levels of income inequality among the elderly using panel data from the OECD SOCX and the EU‐SILC databases. Contrasting earlier empirical studies using either cross‐sectional or time‐series data, they do not find evidence that shifts from public to private pension provision are associated with higher levels of income inequality or poverty among the elderly. The aim of the current article is to extend the analysis of Van Vliet et al. by: (1) adding additional countries; (2) adding additionally available years; and (3) using revised OECD SOCX data. In contrast to Van Vliet et al., we find that a greater relative importance of private pensions is associated with higher levels of income inequality and poverty among the elderly. A central explanation of the difference in conclusions stems from the revision of OECD SOCX data.     

Facing Up to Underfunding: Equity and Retrenchment in Community Care

Local social services departments in the UK are expected to distribute their cash-limited budgets for community care in ways that achieve an equitable allocation of resources in situations where, with present levels of funding, they cannot meet all the needs with which they are presented. This paper discusses a case study of the introduction of a "needs-based" formula to allocate a local authority's budget for home care services and a follow-up survey to investigate whether services reached the people intended to benefit. The article argues that the "gatekeeping" role of community care assessments is important to safeguard equity without the inflexibility of highly standardized tests of eligibility. However, with the new Labour government seeking to reduce dependency on public expenditure, and a growing lobby for national standards of social care, it will be increasingly important that local authorities justifiy their different practices with evidence about how they relate to local needs.     

Batteries assessing health related fitness in the elderly: a brief review

Evaluation of physical functioning is a key issue in clinical geriatrics and in aging research. In recent years, different physical performance batteries in which individuals are asked to perform several tasks and are evaluated using different criteria have been designed and used in elderly populations. These batteries include different types of test which range from basic motor abilities to relevant everyday activities, depending on the construct area in the domain of physical function that must be measured. This paper reviews and classifies the main physical functioning batteries that can be found in the scientific field of aging research in order to provide knowledge on selection, administration, and interpretation of this indispensable assessment tools.     

石蜡油加生理盐水保留灌肠解除老年患者便秘的效果观察

目的探索一种有效治疗便秘的方法。方法将60例老年便秘患者随机分为观察组与对照组各30例，观察组采用石蜡油加生理盐水保留灌肠，对照组采用传统的肥皂水灌肠。结果观察组灌肠效果显著优于对照组（P〈0．05），刺激性小（P〈0．05）。结论利用石蜡油加生理盐水保留灌肠可有效解除老年患者便秘。     

The Elderly and the Extended Household in Portugal: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

Portugal, a southern European country, is expected to exhibit a relatively large proportion of extended households. However, following some general trends associated with large social transformations, Portugal is also expected to have an increasingly larger proportion of nuclear families. We use data from the eight waves of ECHP (European Community Household Panel), covering the years from 1994 to 2001, to establish whether these expectations are justified. Among the nuclear households that include elderly members, we isolate those corresponding to single-person households, since they are particularly relevant for policy purposes. Separate analyses are carried out for the elderly with health problems and for those with no health problems, in order to detect different patterns of living arrangements. We also project the living arrangements until 2005, based on an age-period-cohort analysis. We find that the extended households are a very significant form of living arrangement with reference to the Portuguese elderly, and a living arrangement whose importance is not declining over time. In particular, the oldest old constitutes the group that tends to be found living most frequently in extended households, while those with health problems start much earlier than those with no health problems to live in extended households as they grow older. The proportion of individuals aged 65+ living alone has somewhat decreased, but the proportion of this type of household largely increases with age.

贵州农村老年人生活质量研究

利用贵州农村老人生活状况调查所得资料、对农村老人生活质量现状及存在问题进行分析发现,农村老人生活质量刚进入中等水平,且生活质量随年龄增加而下降;男性老人的生活质量略高于女性;受教育程度越高的老人生活质量越高;不同婚姻状态和不同居住方式下的老人生活质量存在一定差距,老人拥有儿子的数量对其生活质量有一定影响。针对当前农村老人生活质量存在的诸多问题认为,改善农村老人生活质量应以高龄老人、独居老人和无子老人为重点,在农村居住方式正发生变化的情况下,应当优先关注和改善农村独居老人的生活质量。     

循证治疗联合强化抗凝对老年慢性心力衰竭的疗效分析

目的回顾性分析肝素辅助治疗老年慢性心力衰竭(CHF)的效果。方法203例确诊为CHF的住院患者分为两组:①循证标准治疗组(标准治疗组):分别或联合选用强心剂、利尿剂,ACEI类药物、β受体阻滞剂、醛固酮拮抗剂治疗;并注重病因及诱因治疗。②强化抗凝干预组(强化抗凝组):在循证标准治疗基础上,应用肝素静脉点滴或低分子肝素皮下注射治疗至少7天以上。两组间在性别、年龄、病程、平均住院天数及入院时心功能评价分布无显著性差异。结果两组总有效率分别为87.06%和94.92%:住院期间死亡率分别为12.94%和5.08%;至随访结束总死亡率分别为18.82%和6.78%(P<0.004);有非常显著性差异。结论老年CHF患者在循证标准治疗的基础上,加用肝素强化抗凝干预后,其近期疗效和远期预后明显优于标准治疗组。     

老年社会工作在养老机构中的应用探讨

随着人口老化,越来越多的国家政府开始正视老龄问题。而作为社会福利服务的重要组成部分,老年社会工作更日益受到重视。我国内地老年社会工作的发展却很滞后,大多数养老机构对于老年社会工作如何介入没有一个清晰的认识。这是由于我国内地社会工作发展较晚,相关的研究和实践都不是很充分的缘故。本文以笔者的实践经历为基础,从老年社会工作在养老机构服务中的角色、相处原则与介入的模式,尝试探讨老年社会工作在养老机构中的应用。     

Social Bonds and the Migration Intentions of Elderly Urban Residents: The Mediating Effect of Residential Satisfaction

Under the incorporation of social bonds within the residential satisfaction model, this study has attempted to examine why the elderly living in neighborhoods consider moving. The main hypothesis proposed in this study is that the four social bonds (friendship, social cohesion and trust, informal social control, and neighborhood activities), combined with residential satisfaction, affect the mobility intentions of elderly urban residents. This hypothesis is tested by survey data collected in 1995 from 1123 Chicago residents age 65 and over. The results support the hypothesis that strong social bonds, combined with residential satisfaction, are working as important factors when the mobility intentions of elderly urban residents are deterred.     

Long-term effects of international migration: Lessons from Israel

The paper shows that characteristics of immigrants at the time of immigration affect both long-term occupational achievements and income at the end of the labor force career, after age 59. Data representing 174,000 Jewish males 60 and older from a 1985 survey by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics are analyzed to show how the timing of immigration, the number of years in the country, age at immigration, country of origin, and educational resources at time of immigration are related to years in the labor force in the host country, occupational achievement, pension entitlement and income after age 59. Both direct and indirect effects are analyzed. The results show the importance of immigration characteristics on long-term socioeconomic adjustment, and the necessity of considering social status over the life course as an indicator of long-term immigrant adjustment. Decomposition of the effect of country of origin pinpoints what characteristics at time of immigration influence social status differences in ethnic groups at older ages. The discussion includes a number of methodological implications for future studies in immigration.Abbreviations AA Asian-African - CBS Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics - EA European-American This article is based on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, New York, March 1993. It was written while the authors were on leave from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.