Working Paper: NBER ID: w3436
Authors: Angus Deaton; Christina H. Paxson
Abstract: This paper is broadly concerned with the living standards of older people in two contrasting developing countries, Cote d'Ivoire and Thailand. We use a series of household surveys from these two countries to present evidence on factors affecting the living standards of the elderly: living arrangements, labor force participation, illness, urbanization, income and consumption. One of the issues we examine is whether life-cycle patterns of income aid consumption can be detected in the data. The fact that few of the elderly live alone makes it difficult to accurately measure the welfare levels of the elderly, or to make statements about the life-cycle patterns of income aid consumption of individuals. We find that labor force participation and individual income patterns follow the standard life-cycle hump shapes in both countries, but that avenge living standards within households are quite flat over the life-cycle. The data presented suggest that changes in family composition aid living arrangements of the elderly are likely to be more important sources of old-age insurance than asset accumulation.
Keywords: Aging; Household Saving Behavior; Côte d'Ivoire; Thailand
JEL Codes: I10; J14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| age (J14) | labor force participation (J22) |
| labor force participation (J22) | income levels (J31) |
| family composition (J12) | economic status of the elderly (J14) |
| living arrangements (R21) | welfare levels of the elderly (I38) |
| changes in family composition (J12) | old-age insurance (H55) |