Introduction to special issue on institutional influences on retirement, health and well-being.

David Knapp,Jinkook Lee

doi:10.1017/s1474747221000408

Abstract

Countries make differing policy choices. They can serve as a scientific laboratory for drawing lessons on the policy paths to follow or to avoid and the consequences of those institutional choices on individuals at older ages. In this special issue we bring together six articles that evaluate the influence of institutions on retirement decisions, health and well-being of older adults using common data that have emerged with the international network of health and retirement studies to study key life outcomes such as health, work, and lifecycle transitions at older ages.

Highlights

Given the different policy choices, countries can serve as a scientific laboratory for drawing lessons on the policy paths to follow or to avoid and the consequences of those institutional choices on individuals at older ages, which we define here as over age 50
Common data to study key life outcomes such as health, work, and lifecycle transitions at older ages have emerged with the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), first developed in the United States but administered in comparable forms in more than 40 countries on five continents
We bring together research that evaluates the influence of institutions on retirement decisions, health, and well-being of older adults

Summary

David Knapp and Jinkook Lee

This special issue adds to this literature by bringing together papers that leverage the HRS and its international network of studies (HRS-INS) to examine how institutions influence retirement, health, or well-being. We have collected six original papers and arranged them in roughly this order. The first two investigate how retirement incentives in public pensions have shaped labor force participation for urban and rural workers in China and Mexican immigrants in the United States. The second two examine whether institutional policies aimed at supporting those in poor health, either through lower copays for health insurance or early access to old-age pensions for groups that are disabled or in poor health, are effective as designed. The final two examine the consequence of institutional design on the financial well-being of individuals. We highlight the motivation, approach, and key findings of each paper

Tour through the special issue

Findings

Future paths