Japan has the highest proportion of older adults in the world. Aging is not only an immediate personal issue but also a salient factor in crucial public policies, such as pensions, health, and long-term care. The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster of March 2011 has highlighted current and emerging issues of a…

Purpose: Retirees in traditional pension plans must generally choose between single life annuities, which provide regular payments until death, and joint and survivor annuities, which pay less each month but continue to make payments to the spouse after the death of the retired worker. This article examines the payout decision and measures the…

Attempts to explain how institutional mechanisms such as labor markets and pensions stratify the availability of resources and rewards, and interact with life course processes related to labor force history and job mobility to produce income and wealth inequality among the elderly. (SNR)

Using a nationwide survey, found work expectations change dramatically during years normally associated with retirement; over two-fifths of those never expecting to stop working were retired four years later; those expecting to retire were more likely to reach that goal. Argues against cross-sectional studies in planning Social Security changes.…

Presents four papers discussing issues in the regulation of employer pensions, trends in pension coverage and benefit receipt, restrictive pension provisions and older workers, and indexing retirement benefits. (JAC)