Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement
The purpose of this study was to describe the social isolation of older adults in the Côte-des-Ne... more The purpose of this study was to describe the social isolation of older adults in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood (Montreal, Canada) from the perspectives of older adults and community stakeholders. To do so, a descriptive qualitative study was conducted, involving community-dwelling older adults and a variety of key stakeholders from the neighbourhood. Seven focus groups were held, with a total of 37 participants. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using the approach of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. Participants reported that social isolation of older adults is characterized by gaps in social interactions (scarcity of social interactions, lack of social support, and unsatisfying relationships) as well as by low social participation that can be depicted in three ways: (1) exclusion by society, (2) self-restriction of participation, and (3) low eagerness to socialize. This study highlights that there is a diversity in how social isolation of older adults manifests itself. It can...
This chapter surveys recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at o... more This chapter surveys recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at older ages around the world. Studies using similar data, definitions of cognition, and instruments to capture causal effects find that being retired leads to a decline of cognition, controlling for different specifications of age functions and other covariates. The size and significance of the estimated effects varied depending on specifications used, such as whether or not models included fixed effects, dynamic specifications, or alternative specifications of instrumental variables. The authors replicated several of these results using the same datasets. Factors that are likely causing the differences across specifications include endogeneity of right-hand side variables, and heterogeneity across gender, occupation, or skill levels. Results were especially sensitive to the inclusion of country fixed effects, to control for unobserved country differences, suggesting the key role of unobse...
When individuals decide to retire from the labour force, different sources of income can help to ... more When individuals decide to retire from the labour force, different sources of income can help to maintain consumption and welfare. One of those is public pensions. Their importance as an income source varies greatly according to socio-economic status (SES). This paper analyzes how replacement rates (RR) of public pensions (OAS and GIS) and mandatory public pension benefits (C/QPP) vary across SES by using the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults dataset (LISA). Using the longitudinal nature of this survey, we compute and compare average RRs by SES. We specifically consider the role of education and health, and we study how living arrangements can explain RRs variations. To give an idea the average RR of public pensions for individuals in bad health is 32%, while it is 21% for those who report being in good health. Including public pensions and C/QPP benefits, these numbers become 54% for those in bad health and 41% for those in good health. When estimating a multivariate r...
This paper investigates the bi-directional causal relationship between retirement and stress. We ... more This paper investigates the bi-directional causal relationship between retirement and stress. We use PSID data for the period 2007-2015. Using a simultaneous equations approach, we find that a rise in stress increases the probability to retire by roughly 15.4 percentage points, while retirement decreases stress by 34.5 percentage points. We find the same results when we disaggregate by individuals’ characteristics, but the former effect is stronger for males, for people working in typical blue-collar jobs, and for people whose wealth is below the mean; while the latter is stronger for males, for white-collar workers, for people whose wealth is above the mean, and for white individuals. We show that official retirement ages are a strong instrument for actual retirement age, and that lagged physical activity levels are a non-linear instrument for perceived stress. We also confirm that objective measures of mental health are a strong instrument for perceived stress.
Toute forme de soutien au revenu fait face a un triangle d’impossibilite : elle ne peut etre a la... more Toute forme de soutien au revenu fait face a un triangle d’impossibilite : elle ne peut etre a la fois genereuse pour les plus demunis (sans revenus d’emploi), peu couteuse pour les tresors publics, et inciter au travail. Il est impossible de realiser tous ces objectifs a la fois. Un difficile equilibre doit etre trouve. Par exemple, une etude de Godbout et St-Cerny montre que les mesures en lien avec la pandemie ont eu pour effet d’augmenter le revenu minimum effectif au Quebec pour les travailleurs a faible revenu. Ils notent par ailleurs les effets negatifs potentiels sur l’incitation au travail. Alors qu’on a passe les dernieres annees a discuter de revenu minimum garanti, la pandemie a vu, de facto, une certaine forme de revenu garanti s’installer, en particulier par le biais de la Prestation canadienne d’urgence (PCU) et de sa version etudiante, la PCUE. Par exemple, la PCU est genereuse pour ceux n’ayant aucun revenu de travail, mais puisqu’elle est versee seulement si le tra...
This paper examines the work motivations and incentives of employees and self-employed workers ne... more This paper examines the work motivations and incentives of employees and self-employed workers near retirement age. We use a sample of Canadians 50 years and older taken from LISA, the Longitudinal and International Study of Adult. Results are as follows. Poverty is associated positively with the transition from employment to self-employment after 50. Optimism appears to explain in part why employees decide to do the switch. For respondents who were self-employed at least once between 50 and 64 years old, it appears that having had prior self-employment experience does not reduce significantly the probability of being poor after 65.
Dans ce rapport, nous evaluons plusieurs scenarios concernant la pandemie de COVID-19 et leurs ef... more Dans ce rapport, nous evaluons plusieurs scenarios concernant la pandemie de COVID-19 et leurs effets sur les finances publiques du gouvernement du Quebec, a l’aide des outils SimFin et SimGen developpes par la Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux economiques intergenerationnels (CREEi). Le Quebec etait deja aux prises avec un probleme de soutenabilite budgetaire a moyen et long termes, principalement cause par le vieillissement de sa population; la pandemie vient devancer l’echeancier pour faire des choix difficiles. La bonne tenue financiere du Quebec dans les dernieres annees a permis de degager une marge de manœuvre au sens de la Loi sur l’equilibre budgetaire, mais celle-ci risque de ne pas etre suffisante pour traverser la prochaine decennie. Une reflexion importante devra avoir lieu sur les moyens a prendre afin de revenir sur un sentier de soutenabilite budgetaire, tant au niveau de la structure des revenus autonomes, des transferts federaux que des depenses de missions du gou...
This paper explores the concept of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI), proposes an inclusive and o... more This paper explores the concept of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI), proposes an inclusive and operational definition that helps clarify the debate, and proposes an analysis that attempts to show the implications of implementing a GMI in Quebec in its absolute form, namely the universal allowance, or in the form of a negative tax. Our results show significant problems of equity, work incentives or social acceptability. The cost would also be important for public finances. We conclude that both forms of GMI would be difficult to implement in Quebec.
L’Organisation mondiale de la sante definit la sante comme « un etat de complet bien-etre physiqu... more L’Organisation mondiale de la sante definit la sante comme « un etat de complet bien-etre physique, mental et social, et ne consiste pas seulement en une absence de maladie ou d'infirmite. » La sante est une source de bien-etre intrinseque, un determinant de la capacite a vivre normalement, mais egalement et surtout un determinant de la capacite productive des individus. La sante fournit des benefices directs (ex : capacite de consommer et d’avoir des loisirs) et des benefices indirects (un taux marginal de depreciation du capital sante plus faible permet de maintenir une qualite de vie plus longtemps). Maintenir l’etat de sante de la population permet de maintenir sa capacite productive afin de contribuer a la societe. La pandemie liee a la COVID-19 constitue une crise majeure avec un tres grand risque pour la sante de la population. Dans un contexte ou peu de donnees probantes etaient disponibles sur le virus, la mise sur pause de l’economie, decretee par le gouvernement, a et...
Serie : Enquete sur les finances personnelles en temps de pandemie – Partie 1 Depuis maintenant 2... more Serie : Enquete sur les finances personnelles en temps de pandemie – Partie 1 Depuis maintenant 2 mois, le Quebec, tout comme le reste du Canada, est confine en raison de la pandemie de COVID-19. A ce stade, les decideurs ont tres peu d’informations pour prendre des decisions eclairees concernant la poursuite des mesures de soutien mises en place jusqu’a present. En effet, notre systeme de statistiques sur les menages, mise a part l’Enquete sur la population active, mensuelle, est base sur un cycle beaucoup plus long (une a plusieurs annees). Les donnees administratives de nos gouvernements sont presentement difficiles d’acces et, dans tous les cas, n’offrent pas un portrait complet des finances personnelles puisqu’elles ne contiennent pas d’information sur les depenses des menages, les actifs ou l’endettement. Pour donner un exemple, il pourrait s’averer important de connaitre qui recoit les mesures de soutien federales comme la Prestation canadienne d’urgence (PCU), ou bien de sav...
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement
The purpose of this study was to describe the social isolation of older adults in the Côte-des-Ne... more The purpose of this study was to describe the social isolation of older adults in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood (Montreal, Canada) from the perspectives of older adults and community stakeholders. To do so, a descriptive qualitative study was conducted, involving community-dwelling older adults and a variety of key stakeholders from the neighbourhood. Seven focus groups were held, with a total of 37 participants. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using the approach of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. Participants reported that social isolation of older adults is characterized by gaps in social interactions (scarcity of social interactions, lack of social support, and unsatisfying relationships) as well as by low social participation that can be depicted in three ways: (1) exclusion by society, (2) self-restriction of participation, and (3) low eagerness to socialize. This study highlights that there is a diversity in how social isolation of older adults manifests itself. It can...
This chapter surveys recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at o... more This chapter surveys recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at older ages around the world. Studies using similar data, definitions of cognition, and instruments to capture causal effects find that being retired leads to a decline of cognition, controlling for different specifications of age functions and other covariates. The size and significance of the estimated effects varied depending on specifications used, such as whether or not models included fixed effects, dynamic specifications, or alternative specifications of instrumental variables. The authors replicated several of these results using the same datasets. Factors that are likely causing the differences across specifications include endogeneity of right-hand side variables, and heterogeneity across gender, occupation, or skill levels. Results were especially sensitive to the inclusion of country fixed effects, to control for unobserved country differences, suggesting the key role of unobse...
When individuals decide to retire from the labour force, different sources of income can help to ... more When individuals decide to retire from the labour force, different sources of income can help to maintain consumption and welfare. One of those is public pensions. Their importance as an income source varies greatly according to socio-economic status (SES). This paper analyzes how replacement rates (RR) of public pensions (OAS and GIS) and mandatory public pension benefits (C/QPP) vary across SES by using the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults dataset (LISA). Using the longitudinal nature of this survey, we compute and compare average RRs by SES. We specifically consider the role of education and health, and we study how living arrangements can explain RRs variations. To give an idea the average RR of public pensions for individuals in bad health is 32%, while it is 21% for those who report being in good health. Including public pensions and C/QPP benefits, these numbers become 54% for those in bad health and 41% for those in good health. When estimating a multivariate r...
This paper investigates the bi-directional causal relationship between retirement and stress. We ... more This paper investigates the bi-directional causal relationship between retirement and stress. We use PSID data for the period 2007-2015. Using a simultaneous equations approach, we find that a rise in stress increases the probability to retire by roughly 15.4 percentage points, while retirement decreases stress by 34.5 percentage points. We find the same results when we disaggregate by individuals’ characteristics, but the former effect is stronger for males, for people working in typical blue-collar jobs, and for people whose wealth is below the mean; while the latter is stronger for males, for white-collar workers, for people whose wealth is above the mean, and for white individuals. We show that official retirement ages are a strong instrument for actual retirement age, and that lagged physical activity levels are a non-linear instrument for perceived stress. We also confirm that objective measures of mental health are a strong instrument for perceived stress.
Toute forme de soutien au revenu fait face a un triangle d’impossibilite : elle ne peut etre a la... more Toute forme de soutien au revenu fait face a un triangle d’impossibilite : elle ne peut etre a la fois genereuse pour les plus demunis (sans revenus d’emploi), peu couteuse pour les tresors publics, et inciter au travail. Il est impossible de realiser tous ces objectifs a la fois. Un difficile equilibre doit etre trouve. Par exemple, une etude de Godbout et St-Cerny montre que les mesures en lien avec la pandemie ont eu pour effet d’augmenter le revenu minimum effectif au Quebec pour les travailleurs a faible revenu. Ils notent par ailleurs les effets negatifs potentiels sur l’incitation au travail. Alors qu’on a passe les dernieres annees a discuter de revenu minimum garanti, la pandemie a vu, de facto, une certaine forme de revenu garanti s’installer, en particulier par le biais de la Prestation canadienne d’urgence (PCU) et de sa version etudiante, la PCUE. Par exemple, la PCU est genereuse pour ceux n’ayant aucun revenu de travail, mais puisqu’elle est versee seulement si le tra...
This paper examines the work motivations and incentives of employees and self-employed workers ne... more This paper examines the work motivations and incentives of employees and self-employed workers near retirement age. We use a sample of Canadians 50 years and older taken from LISA, the Longitudinal and International Study of Adult. Results are as follows. Poverty is associated positively with the transition from employment to self-employment after 50. Optimism appears to explain in part why employees decide to do the switch. For respondents who were self-employed at least once between 50 and 64 years old, it appears that having had prior self-employment experience does not reduce significantly the probability of being poor after 65.
Dans ce rapport, nous evaluons plusieurs scenarios concernant la pandemie de COVID-19 et leurs ef... more Dans ce rapport, nous evaluons plusieurs scenarios concernant la pandemie de COVID-19 et leurs effets sur les finances publiques du gouvernement du Quebec, a l’aide des outils SimFin et SimGen developpes par la Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux economiques intergenerationnels (CREEi). Le Quebec etait deja aux prises avec un probleme de soutenabilite budgetaire a moyen et long termes, principalement cause par le vieillissement de sa population; la pandemie vient devancer l’echeancier pour faire des choix difficiles. La bonne tenue financiere du Quebec dans les dernieres annees a permis de degager une marge de manœuvre au sens de la Loi sur l’equilibre budgetaire, mais celle-ci risque de ne pas etre suffisante pour traverser la prochaine decennie. Une reflexion importante devra avoir lieu sur les moyens a prendre afin de revenir sur un sentier de soutenabilite budgetaire, tant au niveau de la structure des revenus autonomes, des transferts federaux que des depenses de missions du gou...
This paper explores the concept of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI), proposes an inclusive and o... more This paper explores the concept of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI), proposes an inclusive and operational definition that helps clarify the debate, and proposes an analysis that attempts to show the implications of implementing a GMI in Quebec in its absolute form, namely the universal allowance, or in the form of a negative tax. Our results show significant problems of equity, work incentives or social acceptability. The cost would also be important for public finances. We conclude that both forms of GMI would be difficult to implement in Quebec.
L’Organisation mondiale de la sante definit la sante comme « un etat de complet bien-etre physiqu... more L’Organisation mondiale de la sante definit la sante comme « un etat de complet bien-etre physique, mental et social, et ne consiste pas seulement en une absence de maladie ou d'infirmite. » La sante est une source de bien-etre intrinseque, un determinant de la capacite a vivre normalement, mais egalement et surtout un determinant de la capacite productive des individus. La sante fournit des benefices directs (ex : capacite de consommer et d’avoir des loisirs) et des benefices indirects (un taux marginal de depreciation du capital sante plus faible permet de maintenir une qualite de vie plus longtemps). Maintenir l’etat de sante de la population permet de maintenir sa capacite productive afin de contribuer a la societe. La pandemie liee a la COVID-19 constitue une crise majeure avec un tres grand risque pour la sante de la population. Dans un contexte ou peu de donnees probantes etaient disponibles sur le virus, la mise sur pause de l’economie, decretee par le gouvernement, a et...
Serie : Enquete sur les finances personnelles en temps de pandemie – Partie 1 Depuis maintenant 2... more Serie : Enquete sur les finances personnelles en temps de pandemie – Partie 1 Depuis maintenant 2 mois, le Quebec, tout comme le reste du Canada, est confine en raison de la pandemie de COVID-19. A ce stade, les decideurs ont tres peu d’informations pour prendre des decisions eclairees concernant la poursuite des mesures de soutien mises en place jusqu’a present. En effet, notre systeme de statistiques sur les menages, mise a part l’Enquete sur la population active, mensuelle, est base sur un cycle beaucoup plus long (une a plusieurs annees). Les donnees administratives de nos gouvernements sont presentement difficiles d’acces et, dans tous les cas, n’offrent pas un portrait complet des finances personnelles puisqu’elles ne contiennent pas d’information sur les depenses des menages, les actifs ou l’endettement. Pour donner un exemple, il pourrait s’averer important de connaitre qui recoit les mesures de soutien federales comme la Prestation canadienne d’urgence (PCU), ou bien de sav...
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