Centre for Policy on Ageing



Later life economic inequality in longitudinal perspective
Author(s)	Stephen Crystal, Keith Waehrer
Journal title	The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 51B, no 6, November 1996
Pages	pp S307-S318
Keywords	Economic status [elderly] ; Older men ; Middle aged ; Measurement ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men were used to estimate economic inequality within three 5-year cohorts as they moved from midlife to later life. The Gini index of inequality increased steadily after age 59, supporting the hypothesis that within-cohort inequality increases in late life. However, a transition analysis found considerable mobility in relative status for individuals over a 15-year period. These results suggest the need to develop a longitudinal perspective on later life economic status which distinguishes between individual level and population level outcomes, and identifies the life events and characteristics of individuals that predict changes in economic status. The authors suggest that more research is needed on the processes which lead to late life inequality, and on the distributional impact of public and private pension policies.
Accession Number	CPA-971125235 A
Classmark	F:W: BC: SE: 3R: 3J: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.