Proposal “Aging, Health and Pensions in Europe” Accepted by ESF

Netspar helps shaping European agenda on Aging
The European Science Foundation (ESF) has accepted the proposal Ageing, Health and Pensions in Europe, submitted by Netspar through the Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW). The proposal aims at helping to shape the research agenda on the economics of ageing in Europe in the next ten years.
Building on an already existing successful European, multidisciplinary collaboration, experts from all over Europe will be invited to produce papers that give an overview of the state of affairs concerning several themes in the research on the economics of ageing, and give insights in gaps in knowledge and the opportunities and requirements to fill these gaps. The papers will be discussed at several workshops and at a final conference. Research opportunities in Europe are particularly fruitful since the diversity in Europe can be exploited to better understand the key relationships between demographics, welfare regimes, pension provision, public health, employment, income security, and well-being in a multidisciplinary and cross-national framework.

The research topics that will be studied in the Forward Look are brought together in three broad themes:

1. Labour market issues,
2. Income security of an ageing population
3. Well-being of the elderly.

The first research theme involves a key policy concern of European policy makers: how to raise the labour-force participation of elderly workers? Retirement and labour supply decisions of older workers are core issues of micro-economic research, using standard life-cycle models or incorporating behavioural features. Demand side adjustments will be necessary to accommodate increased supply of older workers, and progress can be made on hiring policies, training of older workers, accommodating workers with a health problem, and creating more opportunities for gradual retirement, etc. These adjustments may require changes in labour-market institutions with substantial macro-economic implications.
The second theme, income security, includes everything related to defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension systems, intergenerational risk sharing, individual decisions on pensions and other retirement savings (e.g., portfolio choice, housing), consumption patterns before and after retirement, financial knowledge, etc.
The third theme, well-being of the elderly, not only comprises economic well-being, but is also driven by family contacts and other social networks and inter- and intra-generational transfers, time use and satisfaction with daily activities (including paid work and volunteer work), physical and mental health (and health behaviour and prevention), availability of formal and informal long-term care, and other aspects of the health care system.

The forward Look will be coordinated by Netspar researchers Lans Bovenberg and Arthur van Soest, together with researchers from several leading institutes in the field of Economics of Ageing in London, Turin, Toulouse, Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Dublin and Lausanne.