The effect of involuntary retirement on healthcare use.

We analyze the causal effect of involuntary retirement on detailed indicators of healthcare use and mortality. We leverage a pension reform in Hungary which forced public sector workers above the statutory retirement age to full time retirement. Using rich administrative data, we find that on the 3-year horizon, involuntary retirement decreases the number of primary care doctor visits, the use of systemic antiinfectives and respiratory drugs, and the non-zero spending on antiinfectives, the drugs of the alimentary tract and metabolism and of the cardiovascular system. The impact on the latter two drug categories is driven by the drop in income due to involuntary retirement. We conclude that there is little evidence for health deteriorating effects of involuntary retirement and discuss the possible mechanisms behind our results.

Time patterns of precautionary health behaviours during an easing phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Using data from the COVID-19 questionnaire of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we investigate the time patterns of precautionary health behaviours of individuals aged 50 years and above during the summer of 2020, an easing phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. We also examine how these health behaviours differ by the presence of chronic conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol level, heart disease, diabetes or chronic bronchitis, which can be considered as risk factors for COVID-19. Our results suggest that while on average, people became less precautious during the analysed time period, this is less so for those who are at higher risk. We also document large regional differences in precautionary health behaviours and show that higher-risk individuals are on average more cautious in all regions. We conclude that people adjusted their health behaviours in line with the generally understood risk of the COVID-19 disease. At the same time, our results also point out divergences in the level of willingness to take different precautionary steps.

Transition shocks during adulthood and health a few decades later in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe.

BACKGROUND: Health of the population of post-socialist Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries lags behind the European Union average. Our aim in this paper is to analyse the link between transition shocks and health two-three decades later. METHODS: We use retrospective data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. We estimate the implications of stressful periods, financial hardships and job loss occurring around the transition (1987-1993) on subjective and objective measures of health in 2017. We compare these implications across groups of CEE countries and with the health implications of similar difficulties reported by individuals from Western Europe. We also compare the health implications of difficulties occurring around the transition to difficulties occurring before or after the transition. RESULTS: In the CEE region there is a peak in the timing of difficulties around the transition. Stressful periods, financial difficulties and job loss around the period of transition are generally associated with worse subjective and objective health at older ages in all groups of CEE countries, even after netting out the effect of childhood health and demographic factors. However, the consequences of hardships due to the transition are not specific, health implications of these difficulties seem to be similar to the implications of other shocks possibly unrelated to the transition. CONCLUSIONS: The high fraction of individuals experiencing stress, financial difficulties and job loss around the transition contributed to the current health disadvantage in the CEE region. As similar shocks in the West and before or after the transition had similar health implications, our results draw the attention to the long-lasting impacts of psychosocial stress and financial hardship during adulthood on later health over the life course.