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Sliding into Poverty? Cross-National Patterns of Income Source Change and Income Decay in Old Age

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Author Info
James M. Williamson () (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Timothy Smeeding () (Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University)
Abstract

This article examines the change in the mix of income and benefits that older adults receive as they age, with a focus on older women. The study is a cross-national comparison of five OECD countries using the Luxemburg Income Study database. We investigate the change of private income and social benefits following synthetic cohorts for two decades. These results reveal that older women rely heavily on socially provided benefits for a majority of their income, and these benefits are primarily responsible for whether older women find themselves in poverty or not. Older men and women in countries with relatively generous (or well targeted) social retirement and social transfer benefits have lower levels of poverty. Housing appears to be a particularly important factor. Older homeowners are less likely to be in poverty than renters. As the value of homes and homeownership increase, housing will become an especially important source of support in old age.

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Paper provided by Center for Retirement Research in its series Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College with number 2004-25.

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Length: 44 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2004
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Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:2004-25

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Related research
Keywords: income retirement old age poverty cross national

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Melissa M. Favreault & Paul S. Davies, 2004. "Interactions Between Social Security Reform And The Supplemental Security Income Program For The Aged," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2004-02, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Smeeding, Timothy M & Sullivan, Dennis H, 1998. "Generations and the Distribution of Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National View," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 254-58, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Martin Feldstein & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2001. "Social Security," NBER Working Papers 8451, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2002. "Social security," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 32, pages 2245-2324 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Atsuhiro Yamada, 2002. "The Evolving Retirement Income Package: Trends in Adequacy and Equality in Nine OECD Countries," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 63, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
  5. Timothy M. Smeeding, 1999. "Social Security Reform: Improving Benefit Adequacy and Economic Security for Women," Center for Policy Research Policy Briefs 16, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
  6. Annika Sunden, 2004. "How Do Individual Accounts Work in the Swedish Pension System?," Issues in Brief ib22, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Thai-Thanh Dang & Herwig Immervoll & Daniela Mantovani & Kristian Orsini & Holly Sutherland, 2006. "An Age Perspective on Economic Well-Being and Social Protection in Nine OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 2173, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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