RIETI-RAND Symposium

"What Have We Learned from the Panel Data of the Elderly?: For better life and health"

Announcement

With its population aging rapidly, solving issues related to the economics and health of the elderly--including how to keep the social security system sustainable--is one of the top priorities facing Japan at present. However, due to increasingly tight fiscal conditions, discussions tend to focus only the financial aspect. Without question, financing is an important issue, but with limited economic resources, there should be more active discussions on how to make the current social security system more efficient and effective.

One of the reasons we do not see more fruitful arguments is due to the lack of statistical data reflecting actual conditions of the elderly in Japan from a multidimensional perspective. In fact, the elderly are diverse in terms of economics, sociability, health, and family status. Industrialized countries have conducted large-scale panel data surveys and utilized the resulting data as a valuable input for real-world policymaking. In Japan, a comprehensive survey of elderly people based on an international standard--Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR)--was launched in 2007 by institutions including the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

This symposium will bring together the world's leading researchers conducting these surveys in the U.S., Europe, and around the world, with a view toward presenting the true picture of the elderly captured in these datasets and how they are utilized in actual policymaking. Also, we will look into the nature of JSTAR results for Japanese elderly and provide and discuss policy implications with the world's leading researchers. In the discussion, health, medical, pensions, and labor conditions will be analyzed multidimensionally, and the importance of panel studies will be presented.

Information

  • Time and Date: 10:00-18:05, Friday, July 29, 2011
  • Venue: The Tokai University Club (Kasumigaseki 3-2-5, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (35th floor of Kasumigaseki Building )
  • Language: English / Japanese (with simultaneous interpretation)
  • Admission: Free
  • Host: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), RAND Corporation
  • Contact: RIETI, (Ms.) Tomoko HARADA
    Tel: 03-3501-8398 / Fax: 03-3501-8416

Agenda

10:00 - 10:10 Opening Remarks

FUJITA Masahisa (President and Chief Research Officer, RIETI / Professor, Konan University / Adjunct Professor, Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University)

Arie KAPTEYN (Director, RAND Labor and Population)

10:10 - 10:15 Special Greeting

YOSHITOMI Masaru (Special Adviser, RIETI)

10:15 - 10:55 Lecture

Longitudinal Aging Data for Behavioral and Social Research

John W. R. PHILLIPS (Behavioral and Social Research Program, National Institute on Aging (NIA))

10:55 - 14:20 Session 1: Population Aging in the World Observed in Panel Data

Session Chair: ICHIMURA Hidehiko (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Economics and the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo)

Presentation: Outline and Purpose of the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and the True Picture of Elderly People in Japan as Revealed by the Study

ICHIMURA Hidehiko (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Economics and the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo)

Presentation: A Comparative Study of Well-being in the US, the UK, and Continental Europe

Arie KAPTEYN (Director, RAND Labor and Population)

Q&A

Presentation: Health and Early Retirement: Policy lessons from international comparisons

Axel BÖRSCH-SUPAN (Director, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy)

Presentation: Cognitive Health of Older Indians: Individual and geographic determinants of female disadvantage

Jinkook LEE (Senior Economist, RAND Corporation)

Q&A

14:40 - 16:10 Session 2: Considering Medical and Health Care Policy Based on Panel Data

Session Chair: HASHIMOTO Hideki (Professor, School of Public Health, the University of Tokyo)

Presentation: Should Medicare Reform Target Incentives for Providers or Patients?

David WEIR (Research Professor, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan / Director, Health and Retirement Study (HRS))

Presentation: Using International Country Data to Learn about Health—the case of England and the USA

James P. SMITH (Distinguished Chair in Labor Markets and Demographic Studies, RAND Corporation)

Health and Health Care in Japanese Elderly

HASHIMOTO Hideki (Professor, School of Public Health, the University of Tokyo)

Q&A

16:30 - 18:00 Session 3: Work Participation of the Elderly as Suggested by Evidence from Panel Data

Session Chair: SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / Senior Research Fellow, Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS))

Presentation: Mental Retirement: National-level policy variations and pooled cross-sectional data from HRS, ELSA, and SHARE to identify a causal effect of early retirement on cognition

Robert WILLIS (Professor, University of Michigan)

Presentation: Retirement Process and Social Security in Japan

SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / Senior Research Fellow, Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS))

Presentation: Were They Prepared for Retirement? Financial Status at Advanced Ages in the HRS and AHEAD Cohorts

David WISE (John F. Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School)

Q&A

18:00 - 18:05 Closing Remarks

NAKAJIMA Atsushi (Chairman, RIETI)

*Agenda is subject to change.