Will Working Longer Enhance the Health of Older Adults? A Pooled Analysis of Repeated Cross-sectional Data in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Encouraging older adults to continue working longer would be a realistic solution to the shrinking labor force, which is a result of the aging population. This study examined whether working longer improves the health of older adults. METHODS: We used repeated cross-sectional data from 1,483,591 individuals aged 55-69 years collected from 11 waves of a nationwide population-based survey conducted in Japan from 1986 to 2016. We estimated pooled regression models to explain health outcomes by work status, controlling for potential endogeneity biases. Based on the estimation results, we conducted simulations to predict the health impact of policy measures that encourage older adults to participate in the labor force. RESULTS: The regression analysis showed that work status had a mixed health impact. For example, work reduced the probability of poor self-rated health by 6.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.2-7.2) percentage points and increased that of psychological distress by 12.2 (95% CI, 11.3-13.1) percentage points. The simulation results showed that raising both the mandatory retirement age and eligibility age for claiming public pension benefits to 70 years would increase the employment rate by 27.8 (standard deviation [SD], 4.2) percentage points among those aged 65-69 years, which would reduce their probability of poor self-rated health by 1.8 (SD, 0.4) percentage points and raise that of psychological distress by 4.1 (SD, 0.8) percentage points for that age group. CONCLUSION: The results suggest the need to pay attention to the health outcomes of policy measures that encourage older adults to work longer.

The COVID 19 pandemic, daily mobility and household welfare: Evidence from Tajikistan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe restrictions on daily mobility for people globally. We use a monthly household panel dataset that covers a period both before and after the outbreak began to examine the impact of COVID-19 on daily mobility and household welfare in Tajikistan. The feature of our dataset is that it contains information on daily mobility for those traveling by vehicle along with their travel purposes. We provide several new findings. First, the impact of the pandemic on daily mobility was limited in Tajikistan, in contrast with the evidence from other countries. The pandemic discouraged motorized travel for family-related purposes in all income groups while keeping other vehicle travel intact for reasons such as work and shopping under the country's lenient travel restrictions. Second, the effects of concerns about the pandemic were not uniform across all vehicle travel when different purposes are taken into account. People who were very concerned about the pandemic were more likely to refrain from motorized travel for family-related purposes. Third, refraining from travel for family purposes exacerbated food insecurity, implying that the safety net provided by family members and relatives was hampered by the limited ability to travel during the pandemic.

Resilience against the pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 on migration and household welfare in Tajikistan.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have adverse effects on the economy through damage to migration and remittances. We use a unique monthly household panel dataset that covers the period both before and after the outbreak to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on a variety of household welfare outcomes in Tajikistan, where remittance inflows in recent years have exceeded a quarter of annual GDP. We provide several findings. First, after April 2020, the adverse effects of the pandemic on household welfare were significantly observed and were particularly pronounced in the second quarter of 2020. Second, in contrast to expectation, the pandemic had a sharp but only transitory effect on the stock of migrants working abroad in the spring. Some expected migrants were forced to remain in their home country during the border closures, while some incumbent migrants expecting to return were unable to do so and remained employed in their destination countries. Both departures and returns started to increase again from summer. Employment and remittances of the migrants quickly recovered to levels seen in previous years after a sharp decline in April and May. Third, regression analyses reveal that both migration and remittances have helped to mitigate the adverse economic outcomes at home during the "with-COVID-19" period, suggesting that they served as a form of insurance. Overall, the unfavorable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were severe and temporary right after the outbreak, but households with migrants were more resilient against the pandemic.

Projection of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Welfare of Remittance-Dependent Households in the Philippines.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is inevitably affecting remittance-dependent countries through economic downturns in the destination countries, and restrictions on travel and sending remittances to their home country. We explore the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the welfare of remittance-dependent households using a dataset collected in the Philippines prior to the outbreak. First, we confirm that remittances are associated with welfare of households, particularly for those whose head is male or lower educated. Then, we use the revision of the 2020 GDP projections before and after the COVID-19 crisis to gauge potential impacts on households caused by the pandemic. We find that remittance inflow will decrease by 14-20% and household spending per capita will decline by 1-2% (food expenditure per capita by 2-3%) in one year as a result of the pandemic.

Regional variations in medical expenditure and hospitalization days for heart attack patients in Japan: evidence from the Tokai Acute Myocardial Study (TAMIS).

In Japan, the use of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is extraordinarily frequent, resulting in large medical expenditure. Using chart-based data and exploiting regional variations, we explore what factors explain the frequent use of PTCA, employing propensity score matching to estimate the average treatment effects on hospital expenditure and hospital days. We find that the probability of receiving PTCA is affected by the density of medical resources in a region. Moreover, expenditure is higher for treated patients while there are no significant differences in hospitalization days, implying that the frequent use of PTCA is economically motivated.

Aged-care support in Japan: perspectives and challenges.

This article explores economic aspects of the market for long-term care (LTC) in Japan. As the world's most rapidly aging nation, it is of interest to understand that country's current LTC system and projections of LTC utilization patterns and costs, as well as their potential drivers. Since Japan appears likely to experience important shortfalls in LTC in the future, the authors also discuss alternate forms of provision.