IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cpn/umkeip/v17y2018i3p261-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional and legal approach to eldercare versus sustainable work concept in selected European Union countries

Author

Listed:
  • Agnieszka Furmanska-Maruszak

    (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun)

  • Katarzyna Kaminska

    (Warsaw School of Economics)

Abstract

Motivation: European societies face the problem of ageing populations and shrinking labour force. One of the ways to tackle this issue is the development of sustainable approach towards work. Sustainable work means creating such living and working conditions that they enable people to remain in employment throughout their extended working life. It requires gaining adequate skills, adjusting working conditions for elder workers’ needs as well as helping them balance work and life. Family obligations are not only related to childcare but also to eldercare given to parents, step-parents or spouses. The balance between work and care might be supported both at the enterprise and the institutional level. Aim: The article aims to examine the legal and institutional approach to care for the elderly in the selected EU countries (Germany, the UK, Finland and Poland) and to answer the question to what extent these institutions and laws support the concept of sustainable work. Results: The extent to which national institutions and laws support sustainable work concept differ between countries, depending on the welfare model they represent. Finland represents Nordic welfare model in which publicly organised and financed eldercare is very generous, so sustainable work model is easy to put in practice. German welfare state also has its social policy well developed, and care systems are supported by the universal long-term care insurance. The UK is an example of a more liberal regime, in which sustainable work concept is more market-driven. Polish efforts to follow the German model with reference to social insurance are still under public debate. However, we doubt whether German solutions are possible to be introduced in Polish conditions due to the different position of trade unions in this country, less importance of employee participation in company management than in Germany, and definitely less than in Germany the regulation of the labor market. In Poland, informal institutions, such as family and cultural customs, play a much greater role in organizing help in the care of an elderly person. Formal institutions play a smaller role in the organization of this care. We propose to take some solutions at the national and enterprise level to raise awareness of the need to take steps to address the issue of support for employees caring for an elderly person.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnieszka Furmanska-Maruszak & Katarzyna Kaminska, 2018. "Institutional and legal approach to eldercare versus sustainable work concept in selected European Union countries," Ekonomia i Prawo, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 17(3), pages 261-264, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpn:umkeip:v:17:y:2018:i:3:p:261-264
    DOI: 10.12775/EiP.2018.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/EiP.2018.018
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.12775/EiP.2018.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesca Colombo, 2012. "Typology of Public Coverage for Long-Term Care in OECD Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), Financing Long-Term Care in Europe, chapter 2, pages 17-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Joan Costa-Font & Christophe Courbage (ed.), 2012. "Financing Long-Term Care in Europe," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-34919-3.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joan Costa-Font & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2015. "Informal Care and the Great Recession," CINCH Working Paper Series 1502, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Feb 2015.
    2. Fuino, Michel & Wagner, Joël, 2018. "Long-term care models and dependence probability tables by acuity level: New empirical evidence from Switzerland," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 51-70.
    3. Ariaans, Mareike & Linden, Philipp & Wendt, Claus, 2021. "Worlds of long-term care: A typology of OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(5), pages 609-617.
    4. Joan Costa‐Font & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2016. "Careful in the Crisis? Determinants of Older People's Informal Care Receipt in Crisis‐Struck European Countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 25-42, November.
    5. Bassetti, Thomas & Rebba, Vincenzo, 2015. "Getting to the Roots of Long-Term Care Needs: A Regression Tree Analysis," MPRA Paper 66167, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Joan COSTA‐FONT & Christophe Courbage & Katherine Swartz, 2015. "Financing Long‐Term Care: Ex Ante, Ex Post or Both?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(S1), pages 45-57, March.
    7. Chiara Canta & Helmuth Cremer, 2021. "Opting out and topping up reconsidered: Informal care under uncertain altruism," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 259-283, February.
    8. Christophe Courbage & Guillem Montoliu-Montes & Joël Wagner, 2020. "The effect of long-term care public benefits and insurance on informal care from outside the household: empirical evidence from Italy and Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(8), pages 1131-1147, November.
    9. Emily Sinnott & Maurizio Bussolo & Johannes Koettl, 2015. "Golden Aging," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 22018.
    10. Carole Bonnet & Sandrine Juin & Anne Laferrère, 2019. "Private Financing of Long‑Term Care: Income, Savings and Reverse Mortgages," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 507-508, pages 5-24.
    11. Martin Boyer & Philippe Donder & Claude Fluet & Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2019. "Long-term care risk misperceptions," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(2), pages 183-215, April.
    12. Chandoevwit, Worawan & Wasi, Nada, 2020. "Incorporating discrete choice experiments into policy decisions: Case of designing public long-term care insurance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    13. Chiara Canta & Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari, 2020. "“Honor thy father and thy mother” or not: uncertain family aid and the design of social long term care insurance," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(4), pages 687-734, December.
    14. Worawan Chandoevwit & Nada Wasi, 2019. "Estimating Demand for Long-term Care Insurance in Thailand: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment," PIER Discussion Papers 106, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Canta, Chiara & Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz, 2016. "Maybe "honor thy father and thy mother": uncertainfamily aid and the design of social long term care insurance," IDEI Working Papers 864, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    16. Lambregts, Timo R. & Schut, Frederik T., 2020. "Displaced, disliked and misunderstood: A systematic review of the reasons for low uptake of long-term care insurance and life annuities," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    17. Bakx, Pieter & Douven, Rudy & Schut, Frederik T., 2021. "Does independent needs assessment limit use of publicly financed long-term care?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 41-46.
    18. Martin Eling & Omid Ghavibazoo, 2019. "Research on long-term care insurance: status quo and directions for future research," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(2), pages 303-356, April.
    19. Canta, Chiara & Cremer, Helmuth, 2018. "Uncertain Altruism and Non-Linear Long-Term Care Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 11619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Jean-Marc Bascans & Christophe Courbage & Cornel Oros, 2017. "Means-tested public support and the interaction between long-term care insurance and informal care," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 113-133, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainable work; social policy; long-term care insurance; eldercare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpn:umkeip:v:17:y:2018:i:3:p:261-264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Miroslawa Buczynska (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.wydawnictwoumk.pl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.