IOPS International Conference on Pension Supervision and Regulation 2019 – Options for creating sustainable pension systems in emerging markets – March 7, 2019 – New Delhi, India

International conference on the theme “Innovation for Health, Innovation for Life” - July, 17^th, 18^th and 19^th 2019 at the University Parthenope of Naples 

7th Congress (french-speaking): “Frailty of the elderly, healthy aging and prevention of loss of autonomy” – Paris – April, 4^th and 5^th 2019

Call for papers : “What is an optimal ageing policy considering demography and economics?” – Symposium organized by the network EIDLL and the chair TDTE on july 9^th 2019 – Deadline : may 20 2019

January 31st 2019, EHESP health conference : Isolation, exhaustion, distress of the entrepreneur: prevent risks and support - "Chambre de Métiers et de l'Artisanat" in Rennes.

Convergence des systèmes de retraite, quelles solutions ?, conference organized by the Chair "Transitions démographiques, Transitions économiques" january 24th 2019, at the Centre de Conférences Edouard VII, 23 square Edouard VII, 75009 Paris.

The study "Gender, social engagement, and limitations in late life" written by Patricia A. Thomas examines gender differences in the pathways among social engagement, physical limitations and cognitive limitations among U.S. older adults. She finds that older women who spent more time in social activities had fewer subsequent physical or cognitive limitations whereas older men who experienced physical or cognitive limitations were less likely to be as socially engaged subsequently.

Based on the productive aging perspective, this study examines the relationship between contributory behaviors (i.e., providing economic, housework, and emotional support to adult children and providing care for grandchildren) and life satisfaction, as well as how gender and living arrangements modify the relationship. Li and Zhang in " Contributory behaviors and life satisfaction among Chinese older adults: Exploring variations by gender and living arrangements "  found that engaging in contributory behaviors in general, and providing emotional support to adult children and caring for grandchildren in particular, are associated with enhanced life satisfaction. The association between caring for grandchildren and life satisfaction is only salient for males but not for females. For living arrangements, the positive association between engaging in contributory behaviors and life satisfaction is only identified among older adults living with their spouse and other family members. The positive association of providing emotional support to adult children with life satisfaction is significant for older adults living with their spouse only. Finally, frequently taking care of grandchildren is related positively to life satisfaction among those living with both spouse and other family members. The study provides empirical evidence suggesting that Chinese older adults are still very active in providing support to family members and highlights the beneficial effects of contributory behaviors on individual's life satisfaction. 

The paper “Social participation and social engagement of elderly people” of Sylvia Rainer focuses on the living experience of elderly and disabled people who represent groups of population at risk of marginalisation: they are likely considered to be unable to take part in the so called active life which generally shapes the construction of identity in adulthood. Yet, in terms of social capital and cohesion the participation of elderly and disabled people can offer great treasure for every community.Thus, this dissertation aims to reveal living experiences of elderly people by considering not only ‘sane’ senior citizens, but also by comparing their subjective constructions with those of elderly people with lifelong intellectual disabilities. The intention is to explore their personal strategies of social participation, their embeddedness in social networks and the availability of resources they activate in case of need. The outcomes of this study aim to enrich theory, as well as to reveal crucial mandates for social services and policies.

Throughout the 21st century, population aging in the United States will lead to increases in the number of elderly people requiring some form of living assistance which, as some argue, is to be seen as a burden on society, straining old-age insurance systems and requiring younger agents to devote an increasing fraction of their time toward caring for infirm elders. Given this concern, it is natural to ask how aggregate GDP growth is affected by such a phenomenon. F. Kydland and N. Pretnar in the paper “The cost and benefits of caring: Aggregate burdens of an aging population” develop an overlapping generations model where young agents face idiosyncratic risk of contracting an old-age disease, like for example Alzheimer's or dementia, which adversely affects their ability to fully enjoy consumption. Young agents care about their infirm elders and can choose to supplement elder welfare by spending time taking care of them. Through this channel, aggregate GDP growth endogenously depends on young agents' degree of altruism. The authors calibrate the model and show that projected population aging will lead to future reductions in output of 17% by 2056 and 39% by 2096 relative to an economy with a constant population distribution. Curing diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia can lead to a compounded output increase of 5.4% while improving welfare for all agents.

Previous studies have suggested that socioeconomic status is linked to health status. However, most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries, whose social settings are different from those in China. Hukou (household registration) status, one of China's main socioeconomic indicators, has received limited attention in the literature. The objective of the study “Depression among Chinese older adults: A perspective from Hukou and health inequalities” of J. Guo, L. Guan et al. was to examine the relationship between different Hukou statuses, and depression, among older adults in China. The results indicated that the level of depressive symptoms was significantly higher among villagers, temporary migrants and permanent migrants than among urban local citizens. In addition, people who had experienced changes in their Hukou status before age 16 were more likely to have depressive symptoms.

In the paper "Individual and province inequalities in health among older people in China: Evidence and policy implications", Maria Evandroua, Jane Falkinghamb, Zhixin Fengc and Athina Vlachantonia use multi-level modelling to analyse data from the nationally-representative Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in order to investigate the characteristics associated with poor health among older people, including individual and household characteristics as well as the characteristics of the provinces in which the older person lives. The results show that older Chinese women, rural residents, those with an education level lower than high school, without individual income sources, who are ex-smokers, and those from poor economic status households are more likely to report disability and poor self-rated health. Differentials in the health outcomes remain substantial between provinces even after controlling for a number of individual and household characteristics.

The december edition of the cahiers de L'ILB is about retirement and especially the challenges of the future French reform. Jean-Hervé Lorenzi, Hicham Belkouch, Mathieu Noguès, Didier Blanchet, Thomas Weitzenblum and Lionel Ragot of the Chair TDTE talk about  their points of views through various interviews.