Ageing, income and living standards: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

Berthoud, Richard, Blekesaune, Morten and Hancock, Ruth (2009) Ageing, income and living standards: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey. Ageing & Society, 29 (7). pp. 1105-1122. ISSN 1469-1779

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Abstract

ABSTRACTIn Britain, older people have lower average incomes and a higher risk of income poverty than the general population. Older pensioners are more likely to be in poverty than younger ones. Yet certain indicators of their living standards suggest that older people experience less hardship than expected, given their incomes. A possible explanation is that older people convert income into basic living standards at a higher rate than younger people, implying that as people age they need less income to achieve a given standard of living. Much existing evidence has been based on cross-sectional data and therefore may not be a good guide to the consequences of ageing. We use longitudinal data on people aged at least 50 years from the British Household Panel Survey to investigate the effects of ageing on the relationship between standard of living, as measured by various deprivation indices, and income. We find that for most indices, ageing increases deprivation when controlling for income and other factors. The exception is a subjective index of , which appears to fall as people age. We also find evidence of cohort effects. At any given age and income, more-recently-born older people in general experience more deprivation than those born longer ago. To some extent these ageing and cohort effects balance out, which suggests that pensions do not need to change with age.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2010 11:11
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2023 23:50
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/14123
DOI:	10.1017/S0144686X09008605

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