In this article, we combine the extensive literature on the analysis of life-course trajectories as sequences with the literature on causal inference and propose a new matching approach to investigate the causal effect of the timing of life-course events on subsequent outcomes. Our matching approach takes into account pre-event confounders that…

Purpose: As part of an ongoing effort to analyze the distributional implications of potential policy reforms to the U.S. Social Security system, we consider the widely discussed reform of earnings sharing. Such an approach has been viewed as a way to "update" Social Security's family benefits based on marital status and as a means to…

Providing the essential care for children and aged relatives has immediate and long-term financial consequences for women, particularly financial insecurity in retirement. Women's caregiving careers are examined in relationship to the impact on retirement. The need for career and retirement education and counseling aimed at women who assume…

Reports on discussions of 30 United States and Canadian experts at a meeting on policies and problems concerning midlife and older women. Discussion focused on income security and long-term care. Includes future prospects. (CH)

The quest for economic security for older women calls for a balance between government standards and public programs. Four components of an action agenda to improve the quality of life for older women are education, legislation, litigation, and negotiation. (SK)

The changes in living arrangements of elderly South African women when they become eligible for pension is documented in detail. Once a woman becomes pension-eligible, the number of co-resident women in their 30s are reduced and children below 5 years increase. The elderly woman assumes a caretaker role for her grandchildren in return for support…

Analyzes the development of women's pensions compared to the progress of men's benefits from 1960 to 1980 in industrial countries. Comparisons are based on benefit amounts of average wage earners in manufacturing. Findings are that women's benefits did not keep pace with men's pensions in 5 of the nations studied. (Author/ABB)

German people are thinking about how senior citizens, who comprise about 15% of the population, can live a better life. Women predominate among the senior citizens in Germany. Investigators into the educational needs of older women living alone found that a very small number take part in further educational opportunities. Two major problems of…

Notes that pension plans which group employees by sex constitutes a denial of equal pay for equal work for the majority of the population which is in the overlap group. (Author/AM)

Explored retirement conditions affecting women's preferred retirement timing and retirement satisfaction in 115 women retirees. Revealed that women's life goals, sex role constancy over the years, the economic impact of retirement, and respondents' control over determination of retirement timing were relevant issues. (Author/KS)

Statistics reveal that 61% of older Canadian women who are unattached to a male partner live in poverty. Two primary factors why women are especially vulnerable to poverty are their financially dependent status and their inequality in the work force. Even women who have worked outside the home are more vulnerable to poverty in old age than their…

Although the older person's economic stiuation has improved, older women, minorities, and rural residents have incomes significantly lower than those for the older population in general. Older married women may appear to be financially secure, but many of their resources often disappear when their husbands die. Widowhood or divorce endangers the…

This bulletin examines the causes of the fertility decline in Sweden and the concerns and ambivalence of Swedes about zero population growth (ZPG). The fertility decline is attributed to many causes. In recent years there has been a drop in marriage rates and a sharp increase in non-marital cohabitation. The decline is also related to the…

Older women, who comprise two-thirds of the retired U.S. population, share substantially less of the $1.3 trillion worth of over 800,000 private and public pension plans by every way of measurement. Of the one-in-five women receiving pension income, some obtain it from their own paid work history, while others are widows and divorced women who…

The hearing's purpose was to begin building a record, from a national perspective, regarding older Americans who live in smaller towns and rural areas. It is not fully known what the real impact is of such matters as lack of transportation, nutritional deficiencies, distance to and shortage of health care, non-availability of adult education…