RECENT OUTPUT
The CIRCLE findings have been published in scientific journals:
-The outcome of Task 2.3 (“Grandmothers’ labor force participation and daughters’ fertility and working choices”), has been published as “The uneven impact of women’s retirement on their daughters’ employment” by Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll, Review of Economics of the Household, 2020, vol. 18, issue 3, No 10, 795-821, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-019-09473-y.
-The outcome of Task 2.4 (“Career interruptions and labour market disadvantages”) has appeared as “Absence from Work after the Birth of the First Child and Mothers’ Retirement Incomes: A Comparative Analysis of 10 European Countries” by Giulia M Dotti Sani, Matteo Luppi, Work, Employment and Society, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020937935.
New Working Papers:
CIRCLE WP N.7 “Youth living arrangements and household employment deprivation: evidence from Spain” by Olga Cantó, Inmaculada Cebrián, Gloria Moreno
Abstract. Economic difficulties during recessions affect young individuals’ life projects and may delay emancipation and childbearing. For a period of persistent growth, previous analyses on emancipation in Spain found a key role of the “adapting to circumstances” attitude in youth cohabiting living arrangements: a large number of young individuals reduce their poverty risk by remaining at their parental homes if both parents are employed, and at the same time, a significant number of households reduce their poverty risk by adding cohabiting young workers’ wages to their disposable income. Using individual and household employment deprivation information from an extensive dataset, we study the evolution and determinants of youth living arrangements and economic outcomes for a large period including a bust, a deep recession and a recovery. Our results show that in addition to individual labor market status, the employment deprivation levels of other active household members are key determinants of youth economic outcomes and living arrangements decisions all along the business cycle.
New Policy Briefs:
CIRCLE Policy Brief n. 6 “Does the safety net hold?”
A summary of the research findings and recommendations from CIRCLE WP N. 6
CIRCLE Policy Brief n. 7 “Youth living arrangements and household employment deprivation”
A summary of the research findings and recommendations from CIRCLE WP N. 7
WORK IN PROGRESS
Work-Package 1 (Intergenerational redistribution of resources) evaluates the impact of different models of welfare state on the intergenerational relationships, focusing on the role of institutions aimed at providing resources to the elderly while the burden of their financing is mainly on the working age population.
The last two ongoing research tasks analyse i) the effects of minimum pensions and ii) the impact of taxes on elderly poverty.
The research on “The role of the minimum pensions on elderly wellbeing” carried out by Francesco Figari (University of Insubria and CeRP-Collegio Carlo Alberto) and Andrea Riganti (University of Milan) will provide a deeper knowledge of the redistributive effects of the minimum pension schemes across European countries. Such a new evidence contributes to the debate about the effectiveness of policy targeting by looking at the extent to which there is a trade-off between generous minimum pension schemes and other pillars of the pension system and its effects on the financial well-being of older people.
The research on “The redistributive effect on taxes on pensions: principles and practices” by Gerlinde Verbist and colleagues (University of Antwerp) takes the view that the distinction between gross pension and taxes on pension is somehow artificial given that the net pension is what matters for the well-being and the retirement decisions of individuals. It will analyse the extent to which elderly persons are ‘taxed into poverty’ defining a comprehensive view of the anti-poverty role of the whole tax-benefit systems.
Both papers are based on EUROMOD and include all EU-27 countries.
Work-Package 3 (“Pension reforms and intergenerational conflicts: What is the role of information and education strategies?”) investigates the perceptions and comprehension that individuals have of the aims of the main welfare provisions and of their implications in term of intergenerational relationships. A new survey has been run in Belgium, Italy and Spain as drop-off of SHARE wave 8, allowing new research on this unexplored issue.
The paper “Pension reforms and intergenerational conflicts: what is the role of knowledge?” by CeRP-Collegio Carlo Alberto researchers Francesco Figari, Elsa Fornero, Noemi Oggero and Mariacristina Rossi starts from the consideration that despite the relevance of the issue of pension system sustainability in most advanced economies, the drivers of opposition to pension reforms are still under-investigated. Individuals’ perceptions of the aims of pension reforms are examined in order to understand whether they depend on actual knowledge and beliefs. Using the CIRCLE ad-hoc drop-off module of SHARE data, we find that in Italy financial and pension knowledge make individuals more willing to accept pension reforms. In particular, individuals who know the functioning of a pay-as-you-go pension system recognize that population aging, low economic growth, and low contributions by the young make the public pension system unsustainable.
The analysis of the perceptions and comprehension that individuals have of the aims of the main welfare provisions and of their implications in terms of intergenerational relationships given the current demographic trends will be extended to Belgium and Italy and other dimensions will be added exploiting the CIRCLE related variables included in the SHARE drop-off. This output is quite relevant under the policy perspective, as we intend to use it to propose strategies to help European countries avoiding intergenerational conflicts while facing the challenging ageing process and weak public finance sustainability.
EVENTS
The final CIRCLE conference will take place in September 2021 in Turin.