Cognitive gender differences and the reasons for their origins have fascinated researchers for decades. Using nationally representative data to investigate gender differences in cognitive performance in middle-aged and older populations across Europe, we show that the magnitude of these differences varies systematically across cognitive tasks, birth cohorts, and regions, but also that the living conditions and educational opportunities individuals are exposed to during their formative years are related to their later cognitive performance. Specifically, we demonstrate that improved living conditions and less gender-restricted educational opportunities are associated with increased gender differences favoring women in some cognitive functions (i.e., episodic memory) and decreases (i.e., numeracy) or elimination of differences in other cognitive abilities (i.e., category fluency). Our results suggest that these changes take place due to a general increase in women's cognitive performance over time, associated with societal improvements in living conditions and educational opportunities.cognitive aging | gender inequality | sex differences | cross-cultural research T he magnitude, pattern, and explanation of cognitive gender differences is a topic that continues to engender considerable scientific and political debate. Here we investigate the extent to which improvements in living conditions and education, taking place over time, are associated with gender differences in cognitive functions among middle-aged and older adults in Europe.During the 20th century, there have been substantial increases in cognitive performance in many nations (1). These increases have been attributed to changes in living conditions [e.g., gross domestic product (GDP), family size, health] (2, 3) and increased exposure to cognitive stimulation (e.g., education) (4, 5). Despite these societal improvements, cognitive gender differences are still reported, typically with a life-long advantage for men in tasks assessing visuospatial (6) and mathematical (7,8) abilities, whereas women are often found to outperform men in tasks assessing episodic memory (9, 10) and reading literacy (11). In other cognitive tasks, such as category fluency and vocabulary, gender differences are typically not observed (12, 13). Although biologically based explanations for these differences have been proposed (14,15), there are also studies indicating that societal factors influence cognitive gender differences.Some studies investigating math performance in adolescents have found that gender differences favoring boys are smaller in more gender-equal societies (16,17), suggesting that gender equity positively affects girls' math performance. Others, however, have failed to find an effect of gender equity on mathematics in adolescents (11, 18) or on visuospatial performance in adults (19). These inconsistencies may reflect differences in the gender equity indicators used (20), or in sample representativeness (19), but they also point to the necessity of using indicat...

Current demographic developments in industrialized countries and their consequences for workforce ageing challenge the sustainability of intergenerational transfers and economic growth. A shrinking share of the young workforce will have to support a growing share of elderly, non-working people. Therefore, the productivity of the workforce is central to a sustainable economic future. Using a new matched employer–employee panel dataset for Austrian firms for the period 2002–2005, we study the relationship between the age structure of employees, labour productivity and wages. These data allow us to account, simultaneously, for both socio-demographic characteristics of employees and firm heterogeneity, in order to explain labour productivity and earnings. Our results indicate that firm productivity is not negatively related to the share of older employees it employs. We also find no evidence for overpayment of older employees. Our results do not show any association between wages and the share of older employees. Furthermore, we find a negative relationship between the share of young employees and labour productivity as well as wages, which is more prevalent in the industry and construction sector.

► We study the relation between the age of employees and productivity as well as wages. ► Firm productivity is not negatively related to the share of older employees. ► We find a negative relationship between the young employees and labour productivity. ► We cannot find any hints for an overpayment of older employees. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords:Age-productivity/-wage profile Employer-employee data Sector affiliation Current demographic developments in industrialized countries and their consequences for workforce ageing challenge the sustainability of intergenerational transfers and economic growth. A shrinking share of the young workforce will have to support a growing share of elderly, non-working people. Therefore, the productivity of the workforce is central to a sustainable economic future. Using a new matched employer-employee panel dataset for Austrian firms for the period 2002-2005, we study the relationship between the age structure of employees, labour productivity and wages. These data allow us to account, simultaneously, for both socio-demographic characteristics of employees and firm heterogeneity, in order to explain labour productivity and earnings. Our results indicate that firm productivity is not negatively related to the share of older employees it employs. We also find no evidence for overpayment of older employees. Our results do not show any association between wages and the share of older employees. Furthermore, we find a negative relationship between the share of young employees and labour productivity as well as wages, which is more prevalent in the industry and construction sector.

We compare selected European countries using an economic dependency ratio which emphasizes the role of age-specific levels of production and consumption. Our analysis reveals large differences in the age- and gender-specific level and type of production activities across selected European countries and identifies possible strategies to adjust age-specific economic behaviour to an ageing population. The cross-country differences in economic dependency of children and elderly persons are largely determined by the age at which people enter, respectively exit, the labour market. The ability of the working age population to support children and elderly persons in turn is strongly influenced by the participation of women in paid work. We also provide a measure for the age-specific production and consumption in form of unpaid household work. The inclusion of unpaid household work leads to a decrease of the gender differences in production activities and indicates that the working age population supports children and elderly persons not only through monetary transfers but also through services produced by unpaid work (e.g. childcare, cooking, cleaning…). Given the available data, we cannot distinguish the age profile of consumption by gender and have to assume – in case of unpaid work - that each member of the household consumes the same. Hence, our results have to be regarded as a first approximation only. Our paper aims to argue that a reform of the welfare system needs to take into account not only public transfers but also private transfers, in particular the transfers in form of goods and services produced through unpaid household work.