Mathis Schröder

The Individual and the Welfare State

Our health, our income and our social networks at older ages are the consequence of what has happened to us over the course of our lives. The situation at age 50+ reflects our own decisions as well as many environmental factors, especially interventions by the welfare state. This book explores the richness of 28,000 life histories in thirteen European countries, collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Combining these data with a comprehensive account of European welfare state interventions provides a unique opportunity to answer the important public policy questions of our time – how the welfare state affects people’s incomes, housing, families, retirement, volunteering and health. The overarching theme of the welfare state creates a book of genuinely interdisciplinary analyses, a valuable resource for economists, gerontologists, historians, political scientists, public health analysts, and sociologists alike.

Introduction: empirical research on health, ageing and retirement in Europe

In our introduction to this Special Issue of JESP, we first sketch what we know and what we do not know about the adaptation process to a society with a large proportion of older individuals. We develop a framework of empirical analysis which exploits the power of multidisciplinary, longitudinal and cross-national comparative data collection. Second, we provide a brief overview of SHARE, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The 2004—05 baseline wave and the first longitudinal wave of SHARE collected in 2006—07 provide data on the life circumstances of some 45,000 individuals aged 50 and over in 14 European countries. SHARE constitutes a unique data infrastructure for researchers from various disciplines — notably economics, sociology and health — to better understand the individual and population ageing process. Third, we introduce the five studies in this Special Issue to show that the multidisciplinary, longitudinal and cross-national comparative data of SHARE permit a much better understanding of ageing and retirement in Europe than was possible before.

Employment and Health at 50+: An Introduction to a Life History Approach to European Welfare State Interventions

Health and employment are key determinants of our well-being. They are major objectives of the European welfare state, e.g. of the Lisbon agenda. Yet, health and employment vary tremendously across Europe. This variation is particularly large at older ages when the sum of influences over the entire life course expresses itself.

Retrospective Data Collection in Europe

Retrospective data play an important role in social science research. This paper provides an overview of problems arising during the process and also presents the solutions found in the field. It also shows details of the collection of retrospective data in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in the SHARELIFE project.

Scar or Blemish? Investigating the Long-Term Impact of Involuntary Job Loss on Health

Job loss is one of the most undesirable events for an individual, as it may affect a person’s wellbeing negatively on a multitude of dimensions. There may be direct and indirect effects of job loss on wellbeing, and these effects may be temporary or permanent, depending on the outcome of interest. Ruhm (1991) and Jacobson et al. (1993) for example show that wage earnings – not surprisingly – decline dramatically in the event of a job loss. However, this effect is permanent in the sense that a comparable group without a job loss follows a much higher wage path in the years following the job loss. Effects on family life have also been shown: Charles and Melvin (2004) find a significant increase in divorce probability for laid-off individuals. Bono et al. (2008) show that fertility decisions are changed due to a job loss, resulting in delayed or forgone child birth. Various papers find a negative effect of job loss on health. Clearly, health is an example where an indirect effect can be imagined – through lower wages, investments in health are declining, and then overall health is affected in addition to a possible direct effect (through depressive symptoms caused by the unemployment situation, for example). Sullivan and von Wachter (2009) find an increase in mortality, Strully (2009) shows that there are effects on subjective health measures as well. Others, for example Salm (2009) or Browning et al. (2006), argue that health effects are rather spurious and not necessarily caused by the job loss. Long-term effects on health have not yet been investigated, mainly due to lack of suitable data.