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Esteban Calvo Center for Retirement Research Email: calvobra@ bc.edu Phone: 617.552.1762 |
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Retirement and Well-Being: Examining Characteristics of Life Course Transitions. Much literature debates whether transitions to retirement lead to increased or reduced well-being. We attribute the persistence of this controversy to the lack of theorizing on life course transitions and argue that the effects of such transitions can be either beneficial or detrimental depending on their characteristics such as.speed (gradual/abrupt), perceived control (voluntary/forced), timing (earlier/later), and synchronicity with other life changes (focal/overlapping). Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the effects of retirement on four dimensions of well-being--psychological, physical, economic, and social. This is a joint project with Natalia Sarkisian. Productive Activities and Depression. A research article exploring possible reciprocal causation between productive activities (e.g. work) and depressive symptoms among the elderly population in the US. The relationship between productive activities and depression is both well established and enigmatic. The existence of a correlation has been repeatedly confirmed in previous studies. However, it is not clear whether: (1) depression problems cause lack of involvement in productive activities, (2) productive activities prevent depression, or (3) both processes operate simultaneously in a reciprocal relationship that unfolds over time. This is a joint project with Natalia Sarkisian. Migration and Retirement Well-being. The contraction of the national retirement income system along with an increase in life expectancy raises concerns about the adequacy of retirement preparedness of older individuals. “Working longer” and “saving more” are generally prescribed as remedies. Current literature, however, ignores that migrating to low cost-of-living areas may be another option. Using the HRS, this project analyzes the effect of migration on the financial and psychological well-being of older individuals. Specifically, it examines the trends in migration; analyzes the effect of migration on expenditures; and assesses the impact of migration on psychological well-being. The results of this study will help to determine whether migration is a viable and desirable option for older Americans. This is a joint project with Natalia Zhivan and Kelly Haversick. Public Pensions and Older Adults' Well-Being. This is a study assessing the influence of old-age public pension policy on older adults' well-being, with a focus on two outcomes that have been largely overlooked in previous cross-national research on pension policy: variation across countries with respect to physical health and average happiness levels. Since the raw data that will be used for this project are not available in a single place and do not come in a user-friendly format, we will create and freely disseminate a cleaned, single, multi-level, unbalanced panel database and the corresponding codebook. The resulting database will include about 350,000 individuals observations, clustered within 100 countries, with repeated observations from the late 1970s to date. Retirement Timing and Subjective Well-being. This is a study assessing the effect of the timing of retirement on subjective health and feelings. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, this research examines when is the “ideal age” to begin the retirement transition. Using panel data and instrumental variables techniques, our preliminary results suggest that both retiring too early or too late are detrimental for subjective well-being. This is a joint project with Christopher Tamborini and Natalia Sarkisian. Inequality and Mental Health: A Multilevel Analysis. Previous literature debates the effects of inequality on health. While most of these studies focus on physical health, this study looks specifically at mental health. Using micro data from the World Values Survey and cross-national data from the World Bank Indicators, this project estimates a multilevel model to isolate the effect of the income inequality on numerous mental health outcomes. This is a joint project with Paula Errázuriz.
Gradual Retirement and Happiness. This project explores the factors that affect an individual's happiness while transitioning into retirement. Results suggest that what really matters is not the type of transition (gradual retirement or cold turkey), but whether people perceive the transition as chosen or forced.
Health and Older Adults. Who should be held accountable for the health of older adults? To answer this question, we explore determinants of older adults' health, and then identify key social actors to which we can attribute responsibility. Using longitudinal data from the Encuesta de Protección Social en Chile, our study highlights the role of lifestyles, job characteristics, and structural factors in shaping a number of health outcomes. Taking these health determinants into account, our analysis suggests that the health of older adults is a shared responsibility by individuals, companies, and the state.
Retrenchment of Individual Retirement Accounts. This article reviews two rounds of pension reforms in ten Latin American countries to determine whether they are moving away from individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Although the idea is provocative, we conclude that the notion of "retrenchment of IRAs" is insufficient to characterize the new politics of pension reform. As opposed to the politics of enactment of IRAs of the late twentieth century, pension reform in Latin America in recent years has combined significant comeback of public components in old-age income support with improvement of IRAs.
Social Security Reform. This research project analyzes social security reform in Latin America and China. The analysis highlights the link between the cultural and material characteristics of these societies (family, reciprocity, loyalty and poverty) and the challenging areas of the reform (coverage, compliance, transparency and fiscal stability).
Non-Monetary Benefits of Continued Employment. This project addresses the consequences of late-life paid work on physical and psychological well-being. The basic conclusion from this study is that longer working lives will help most people maintain their overall well-being.
My research has been supported by generous grants and fellowships from: Department of Sociology at Boston College, Atlantic Philanthropies, Chilean Government, and Retirement Research Consortium. The Retirement Research Consortium consists of three multidisciplinary centers: (1) Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, (2) University of Michigan Retirement Research Center, and (3) National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Retirement Research Center, and is funded through cooperative agreements with the U.S. Social Security Administration.
My work has been largely based on quantitative analysis of longitudinal micro-data and cross-national data, yet it also draws from the comparative historical method, cultural analysis, and interview techniques.
I have worked with many people in the aforementioned research projects. Among them, I am particularly grateful to: my advisor, John B. Williamson; my boss and CRR Director, Alicia H. Munnell; my Professor in statistics and close friend, Natasha Sarkisian; my mentors at the CRR, Steven Sass and Mauricio Soto; and my wife and first reviewer of all my writings, Paula Errázuriz.
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