Insecure old-age security

Jellal, Mohamed

doi:10.1093/oep/54.4.636

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…This shift in instruments to insure income during old age has been studied in relation to fertility for the developing countries of today (for example Galasso, Gatti, & Profeta, 2009;Jellal & Wolff, 2002). Systematic studies regarding countries that were industrializing during the nineteenth century, using the same methods and types of sources for the time before and after the presumed shift, are necessary if one wants to analyze long-term changes in the relative importance of the two different alternatives.…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

To depend on one's children or to depend on oneself: savings for old-age and children's impact on wealth

Lilja

Bäcklund

2013

The History of the Family

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How did workers make provisions for old age before the introduction of old age pensions? What was the relative importance of dependence on children and saving for old age respectively? This article concerns the transition from a traditional familybased system for economic support in old age to a more modern system. Regarding the nineteenth century, studies have shown that (a) savings generally were insufficient for full retirement, and that (b) families were dependent on children's incomes when the breadwinner became older. Little attention has been paid to the question of how the relative importance of these two alternatives changed during the century. This question is addressed here in a cross-sectional study of net wealth based on probate inventories for three Swedish towns in the 1820s and the 1900s.The results show that in general the economic importance of children was larger among the lower socio-economic strata. They also reveal that net costs for having children increased between the investigated periods. This means that dependence on children became more expensive. Consequently, the economic importance of this alternative decreased. This may have been a strong motive for the fertility transition.On the other hand, net wealth for workers increased at the end of the nineteenth century. Financial assets constituted a great part of the increase. Workers with children had less financial savings than those without children, showing that there was a conflict between the traditional and the modern systems for support in old age. However, still at the turn of the twentieth century funds were generally too small to allow an old worker to retire. These results indicate that neither the old, nor the modern systems, fully satisfied the need for support in old age. This may explain why several Western European countries introduced old age pensions at the beginning of the twentieth century.

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Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

To depend on one's children or to depend on oneself: savings for old-age and children's impact on wealth

Lilja

Bäcklund

2013

The History of the Family

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“…A case in point is the benefit of relying on children for some form of care in the older ages, especially after parents retire from income-generating work. While all societies support such expectations, it has been suggested that in developing societies, this expectation may be valued quite highly and may itself fuel personal desires to have many children or to have a particular sex composition (Caldwell 1977; De Vos 1985; Jellal and Wolff 2002; Nugent 1985). The problem with such high valuations is that the children may not have the socially advantageous sex, they may die, may be economically incapable or may not be altruistic in the end; and the most productive years of children are so far into the future, it is difficult to determine fully whether such expectations will be realised when parents are actually having them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The more the merrier? Fertility and food insecurity among older Senegalese women

Kodzi¹

2015

Ageing and Society

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The number of children women have is a critical determinant of their future wellbeing. Often, adult children confer some protection against adverse conditions in their older ages. In many sub-Saharan African societies, it is expected that older women who typically have had many children, will benefit from their investment in children. Yet it is unclear if this is really the case. Using data from the 10 per cent micro-sample of the 2002 Senegalese Population and Housing Census, this study investigates the effect of the childbearing histories of older women (aged 60–85) on the likelihood that their households experienced food insecurity in the past year. Women who had had no children and those who had ever had two or more, were not significantly different from those who had had five or more – only those who had had one child were adversely affected. Based on principles of intergenerational altruism and moral obligation, I expected that food insecurity would decrease with increases in the number of surviving children. This pattern was generally found. However, among women in the bottom 40 per cent of the wealth distribution, the relationship was, at best, weak with respect to all of the fertility variables (children ever had, living, co-resident). The benefits of high fertility seem to accrue to relatively richer women – those in the top 60 per cent of the wealth distribution. Yet among these richer women, having fewer than three children and co-resident adult children were significant risk factors of food insecurity.

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“…7 7 These informal arrangements may be indirectly observed through family size, investments in children's education (Jellal and Wolff, 2002), informal old‐age security provided by children (Hoddinott, 1992), help given by older people to their children in domestic tasks, risk‐sharing agreements between family members (Kotlikoff and Spivak, 1981; Victorio, 2002), co‐residence, etc. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Voluntary affiliation to Peru's individual accounts pension system

Olivera

2009

Int Social Security Review

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One important aspect in the design of social protection is coverage. In Peru, as in most Latin American countries, social security coverage is mandatory only for workers in the formal sector. This article investigates the determinants of voluntary affiliation to Peru's individual accounts pension system. It is found that married males with more than high-school level education living in high income households and with other family members already affiliated to the individual accounts pension system have a higher likelihood of voluntary affiliation. Although the results suggest that family-based safety nets might be substitutes for voluntary participation in the individual accounts pension system, nonetheless, extending pension coverage and addressing poverty remain as challenges for government involvement.i ssr_1336 23..48

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Insecure old-age security

Cited by 13 publications

References 39 publications

To depend on one's children or to depend on oneself: savings for old-age and children's impact on wealth

To depend on one's children or to depend on oneself: savings for old-age and children's impact on wealth

The more the merrier? Fertility and food insecurity among older Senegalese women

Voluntary affiliation to Peru's individual accounts pension system

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