The gender gap in economic dependency over the life cycle: some theoretical and practical considerations

Economic analysis usually defines the period of dependency with arbitrary age limits that are independent of country, year, gender and other factors. This paper uses the National Transfer Accounts methodology, which defines dependency by the life cycle periods in which individuals’ consumption exceeds their labour income. The novelty of the paper is the decomposition of the results by gender, as well as the retrospective pre- and post-crisis analysis for the 2000– 2012 period. Slovenia, an ageing European society with a small, open economy, is used as a showcase. The findings indicate that, in Slovenia in 2012, women were able to finance their consumption through their labour income for 29.0 years, compared to 35.9 years for men, with a significant decrease in the gender gap in economic dependency over time, from 7.9 years in 2000 to 6.9 in 2012. It would seem that the economic crisis interrupted the path to equal periods of economic dependency for both genders. However, overall, the gender gap tends to decrease, despite the economic crisis

The European National Transfer Accounts: Data and Applications

Population ageing exerts considerable pressure on the funding of public transfers. It is of utmost importance to understand how the transfer system can adapt to population ageing. Using National Transfer Accounts, we illustrate the different organisation of transfer systems across Europe. Countries like Greece and Romania, where labour income already falls short of consumption at age 54, would greatly improve their public system sustainability by following the Swedish example where this happens ten years later. High consumption at older ages is less problematic when financed substantially through savings (the UK) rather than almost exclusively through transfers (Austria)

The Broken Generational Contract in Europe: Generous transfers to the elderly population, low investments in children

Based on European National Transfer Accounts data from 2010, this paper quantifies and evaluates the balance of intergenerational transfer flows in 16 EU countries, including transfers in the form of unpaid household work. On average, the value of net transfers received by a child amounts to sixteen times the labour income of a full-time worker, and the net transfers received by an elderly person to six times the labour income of a full-time worker. Intergenerational transfers can be regarded as the reciprocal exchange between two generations: the size of the transfers to the child generation determines their potential to generate income and finance public transfers to the elderly population once they enter employment. We develop and calculate an indicator to analyse if there is a balance between transfers to children and transfers expected by the elderly population. The results indicate that in most of the analysed countries the human capital investments in children are far too low to finance the generous transfers to the elderly population in the future

The role of gender, education and family in the welfare organization: Disaggregating National Transfer Accounts

In this paper, we extend the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) methodology to obtain the age profiles simul- taneously disaggregated by gender, education level and family structure. We present the results for four countries (Austria, Spain, Finland and the UK), analysing the roles of these three dimensions in the both inter and intragenerational distribution of resources. We find interesting differences across countries, some of them related to the degree and age direction of the familiarization of different welfare state regimes. Finland excels as the country with the highest level of public transfers, and in particular for the elderly and for parents of working ages. In Austria, public transfers are also generous for children and the elderly, and there are substantial family benefits. In the UK and Spain, public transfers are much lower and family-related allowances are almost insig- nificant. Consequently, in Spain, private transfers from parents to children are the highest, while in the UK asset reallocations play a significant role in financing elderly consumption. Overall, our analysis provides interesting insights on how gender, redistribution policies and family structure interact with the welfare organizatio

Repercussió de l'envelliment de la població en l'economia: el primer i segon dividend demogràfic a Alemanya, Espanya i el Regne Unit

L'envelliment de la població està plantejant reptes per a l'activitat econòmica i per a la sostenibilitat dels pressupostos públics. En aquest article hem fet un càlcul de la repercussió sobre l'economia mitjançant els resultats dels Comptes Nacionals de Transferències (NTA, per les seves sigles en anglès) (...

The gender gap in paid and unpaid work along the life cycle: the role of household arrangements

We examined how men and women in Spain contribute to market and nonmarket production and share it among household members in various living arrangements, considering the role of partnership and parenthood status. Extending the National Transfer Accounts method, our results show that women produce more in the market at the beginning of the life cycle, but when they become a couple or have children, they focus on nonmarket production, widening the gender gap. Men have relatively stable market production whether they are fathers or not. Moreover, when living alone, men are able to produce the housework they consume. However, when they live together in a couple (without children), their household production decreases and their consumption increases at the expense of the transfers from their partner. Parenthood has a positive effect on men's care work, but overall, women spend more time on paid and unpaid work combined, regardless of living arrangements

Has the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia affected gender gap in paid and unpaid work?

Among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the use of time of individuals. The burdens seem to have been unequally distributed between men and women. This paper analyses gender differences in Slovenia in time spent on paid and unpaid work before and during the lockdown. The design of our study enables us to examine the change in time spent on 14 different activities in an average workday before and during the pandemic. We find that during the pandemic, the gender gap in paid work widened, meaning that men spent even more time on paid work compared to women. Men also began to cook, devoted more time to cleaning and spent significantly more time caring for children. Therefore, the gender gap in childcare, which was marginally significant before the pandemic, became insignificant. During the pandemic, women spent relatively more time on home maintenance, which in turn led to a narrowing of the gender gap in this activity

Impact of socialism and transition in Slovenia on the wealth of persons aged 50+

V času socializma so bile oblike varčevanja omejene, hkrati so bile v določenih obdobjih nekatere oblike razvrednotene z visoko (ali hiper-) inflacijo. Za to obdobje je bila značilna manjša potreba po varčevanju, saj je za upokojene, bolne, brezposelne, onemogle itd. poskrbela država. Na osnovi podatkov ankete SHARE v članku primerjamo posebnosti glede obsega in oblike premoženja v Sloveniji. Med 14 analiziranimi državami sta Češka in Estonija kot drugi dve postsocialistični državi v spodnjem delu razvrstitve držav po premoženju, če ga izrazimo v številu povprečnih mesečnih neto plač, Slovenija pa je na visokem tretjem mestu, pri čemer je premoženje skoraj izključno v obliki nepremičnin