			Home About us Contact

Age Pensions (age + pension)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	83%

Selected Abstracts

Australian baby boomers talk about the global financial crisis

AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 3 2010
Nancy Humpel
Aim:, The aim of this qualitative study was to explore baby boomers' views and plans in the early days of the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008. Methods:, Informants from National Seniors Australia were interviewed in 15 focus groups conducted nationally. Transcripts were analysed by themes from semi-structured questions. Results:, The GFC was found to shake the confidence and plans of boomers. Many workers decided to delay retirement and save longer following losses in superannuation. Those retired on market-linked superannuation felt forced to reduce expenses and restrain lifestyles. Those on full pensions were relatively unaffected. Conclusion:, The GFC called into question boomers' expectations for retirement. While financial markets are showing signs of recovery, the GFC had precipitated a decision to work longer and to draw conservatively on retirement savings that may take many years to recover. The volatility of financial and employment markets underscores the value of the Age pension. [source]

Ageing in "Poor Household" or Ageing into Poverty?

ASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010
Tackling the Policy Dilemma of Redistribution
The policy issue of how to target poor households rather than provide universal coverage takes the primary place in the question of redistribution where resources are limited. The Government of India's social protection programs, particularly the old age pension for the informal sector of the economy, has taken a targeting approach. In this article we show that there is a case for universal coverage since ageing households experience greater exclusion from market-based protection as well as from informal (household-based) protection. We make the argument for universal coverage on two grounds: first, a targeted approach has resulted in leakage, indicating that non-poor elderly individuals in the unorganized sector also require some sort of support. Though they are valid, we do not resort to traditional arguments against targeting, such as that it creates institutional lock-in mechanisms and stigmatizes the recipients. Second, the loss of income on age-related matters (e.g. hospitalization) or the ability of elderly individuals to gain credit is not particularly class-specific, although the targeting policy implies it is. The article is based on the secondary data source of the National Sample Survey, primary data sources, particularly those conducted by the authors in Kerala and Maharashtra and specifically designed for the ageing population, and ethnographic observations from fieldwork. [source]

Simple Transfers, Complex Outcomes: The Impacts of Pensions on Poor Households in Brazil

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2006
Peter Lloyd-Sherlock
ABSTRACT Drawing on quantitative survey data and in-depth interviews, this article seeks to map out the potential direct and indirect effects of simple cash transfers on households in impoverished rural and urban settings. Brazil is shown to have an extensive system of old age pensions, which affords almost universal coverage to households containing older people. These benefits have a significant impact on levels of poverty and vulnerability in recipient households. They also facilitate access to essential healthcare items, such as drugs, which are seldom freely available through the state health system. The in-depth interviews reveal that pensions can have important effects on intra-household relations, but these effects were not generalizable nor easily captured by quantitative survey tools. There was clear evidence that pensions reduced the propensity of older people to remain economically active, but this must be understood in a context of limited employment opportunities for all age groups and a high prevalence of disability. Overall, the article demonstrates the complex effects of a relatively simple cash transfer, which policy makers need to take into account. [source]

Poverty among the elderly in late Victorian England1

ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
GEORGE R. BOYER
Despite rapid increases in manual workers' wages, poverty rates among the elderly remained high in late Victorian England, although they varied significantly across Poor Law Unions. This paper begins by examining the ability of workers to provide for their old age. A data set is constructed, consisting of all English Poor Law Unions in 1891,2, and regression equations are estimated in order to explain variations across unions in pauperism rates. This is followed by the testing of several conjectures made by contemporaries, and repeated by historians, regarding the deterrent effect of workhouse relief, the effects of wages and of the industrial character of Poor Law Unions on pauperism rates, and regional differences in workers' reliance on the poor law. The paper then examines the implications of these results for the debate over national old age pensions in the decades before the adoption of the Old Age Pension Act. [source]

Universal age pensions in developing countries: The example of Mauritius

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
Larry Willmore
Mauritius, a small developing country located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, has provided older residents with non-contributory age pensions since 1950. The scheme became universal in 1958. Mild income tests were reintroduced in 1965 and again in 2004. Targeting proved to be unpopular, and universality each time was restored. Government added a mandatory, contributory tier in 1978 that does not replace the flat, non-contributory pension. Instead, it promises participants (approximately half the labour force) an income-related benefit to top up the universal pension. The author examines Mauritius's long experience, drawing lessons from it for other developing countries. [source]