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Homeownership has been shown to be related to various aspects of well-being, although both the causal nature of this relationship and the possible channels behind it have been difficult to identify. We focus on one of the most often quoted mechanisms which could be responsible for the positive effects of homeownership, namely its role in providing material security in old age. Using data from 15 European countries collected in wave 2 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we analyse the relationship between homeownership and material security, as measured through subjective expectations of being better or worse off in the future. We find that homeowners have a higher level of material security than renters, and this association is especially strong for those living in big cities. For this subsample, in comparison to renters, owning a property in the top quartile of the home value distribution is associated with an increase in the probability of expecting to be better off in the future by as much as 43%. With respect to our measure of material security we find no such correlations with education, income or financial assets. We interpret the results as support for the argument that homeownership offers a very particular form of material security, which may be behind its positivse implications for well-being.

Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004-17) and time diaries from Poland (2013), the U.S. (2006-16), the U.K. (2014-15) and France (2009-10), we examine differences between widowed and partnered older women in well-being and its development in widowhood. Most importantly, our analysis accounts for time use, an aspect which has not been studied previously. We trace the evolution of well-being of women who become widowed by comparing them with their matched non-widowed ‘statistical twins’ and examine the role of an exceptionally broad set of potential moderators of widowhood’s impact on well-being. We confirm a dramatic decrease in mental health and life satisfaction after the loss of partner, followed by a slow partial recovery over a five-year period. An extensive set of controls recorded prior to widowhood, including detailed family ties and social networks, provides little help in explaining the deterioration in well-being. Unique data from time-diaries kept by older women in several European countries and the U.S. tell us why: the key factor behind widows’ reduced well-being is increased time spent alone.

The decisions of parents following the birth of their first child concerning subsequent fertility, and the stability of their relationship can be used as a reflection of broader gender preferences. We study these decisions to identify gender preferences in six Central and Eastern European countries, which vary with respect to their current political and economic conditions, but share a common experience of past communist rule. Using subsamples of census data collected in the IPUMS-International inventory around 2000 and 2010, we examine the effect of the gender of the first-born child(ren) on the fertility and relationship stability of their parents. Only in the case of Romania do our results consistently point towards boy preferences, while in Russia boy preferences can be detected in families with two or more children. Importantly, in four out of six countries (Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine) parents are more likely to have a second child if the first-born was a boy, indicating girl preferences. These preferences could be interpreted as a reflection of concern regarding future care support for parents.

By age 77 a plurality of women in wealthy Western societies are widows. Comparing older (aged 70+) married women to widows in the American Time Use Survey 2003-18 and linking the data to the Current Population Survey allow inferring the short- and longer-term effects of an arguably exogenous shock—husband’s death—and measuring the paths of adjustment of time use to it. Widows differ from otherwise similar married women, especially from married women with working husbands, by cutting back on home production, mainly food preparation and housework, mostly by engaging in less of it each day, not doing it less frequently. French, Italian, German, and Dutch widows behave similarly. Widows are alone for 2/3 of the time they had spent with their spouses, with a small increase in time with friends and relatives shortly after becoming widowed. Evidence from the European countries shows that widows feel less time stress than married women but are also less satisfied with their lives. Following older women in 18 European countries before and after a partner’s death shows that widowhood reduces their feelings of time pressure. U.S. longitudinal data demonstrate that it increases feelings of depression. Most of the adjustment of time use in response to widowhood occurs within one year of the husband’s death; but feelings of reduced time pressure and of depression persist much longer.

Supplemental material, appendices_reviewed for Implications of Social and Material Deprivation for Changes in Health of Older People by Michał Myck, Mateusz Najsztub and Monika Oczkowska in Journal of Aging and Health

We examine long-term implications of unemployment for material conditions and well-being using the Polish sample from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Retrospective data from the SHARELIFE survey are used to reconstruct labour market experiences across the threshold of the socio-economic transformation from a centrally planned to a free market economy in Poland. These individual experiences are matched with outcomes observed in the survey about 20 years later to examine their correlation with unemployment at the time of the transition. We find that becoming unemployed in the early 1990s correlates significantly with income, assets and a number of measures of well-being recorded in 2007 and 2012. Using plant closures to reflect exogenous changes to labour market status at the time of the transition, we are able to confirm the causal effect of unemployment on income and house ownership 20 years later, but find no evidence for a long-term causal relationship between unemployment and such measures of well-being as life satisfaction, depression and subjective assessment of material conditions.

* New material deprivation items (MDIs) improve the understanding of individual economic situation in later life * MDIs have advantages over simple subjective measures of material conditions and can prove useful in analysis of the effect of economic circumstances on well-being * MDIs may prove valuable when constructing complex measures of material conditions and multidimensional measures of exclusion

This edition is devoted to the issue of poverty. Growth of prosperity is not distributed evenly among the Polish citizens, and some of them still cannot satisfy even basic needs. The improvement of an overall economic situation reduces risk of poverty in general. However, in case the risk occurs, efficient and effective support measures should be provided. First part of the report defines poverty, and explains the extent of the connection with such phenomena as economic deprivation or social exclusion. It is vital, as the exact criterion of poverty is ambiguous. Having discussed these issues, we elaborate on the characteristics of poverty in Poland as compared to those observed in other Member States of the European Union, as well as their regional and local dimensions. The key element of this part is to determine the causes of poverty, i.e. to what extent poverty results from the features of national and regional economy, and to what extent from individual characteristics of people. The topics introduced in this part form background for subsequent parts of the report. The second part is devoted to the poverty of certain social groups such as elderly, children, unemployed and rural. Conducted analyses allow to dispel some of the myths in this matter, as well as to bring out the characteristics that are particularly important from the perspective of creating the support instruments for groups that are at risk of poverty. The issue of poverty among children is scrutinised from the intergenerational perspective, and its determinants and possible measures of preventing the phenomenon are discussed. The third part focuses on relations between income inequalities and situation on the labour market. In this part changes in distribution of wages in Poland are confronted with the poverty dynamics. They are supplemented with a reflection on the impact on poverty exerted by changes in the Polish society, including (but not limited to) those concerning household structure or economic activity of women. The phenomenon of so called working poor is also scrutinised here. We determine, inter alia, whether the characteristics of household or of work performed are more important causes of in-work poverty. We also elaborate on the question if situation of poor households is persistent or low-paid employment enables them to get out of poverty. The fourth part discusses available tools and instruments to fight the poverty. The state of affairs described in first three parts allows to take a closer look on efficiency and effectiveness of social policy measures applied in Poland, both tax and benefit based. Special attention is drawn to the issue of financial support of families with children as an element of social and demographic policy. The key features of this part are simulations of the impact of hypothetical changes in currently functioning system on rate of poverty in Poland. The recommendations for public policy constitute the summary of the report.

Walery Zukow

Walery Zukow