Private and public transfers: substitute or complement?

The paper analyzes the relationship between private and public social transfers in Russia. The research relies on the data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) carried out by the Higher School of Economics in 1994–2018. The household is the unit of the analysis, the method of logistic regression is applied. The study has shown that when a household receives public social transfers, it is less likely to receive private transfers. So, the findings appear to bear out the hypothesis that public transfers crowd out private transfers in Russia.

Population Ageing and Financing Consumption of the Older Generation in the European Union

European countries are facing the challenge of population ageing, and social policies need to adjust to changing intergenerational balance. In this chapter, the most important challenges in the current intergenerational and intragenerational balance are assessed using the National Transfer Accounts approach. Financing the lifecycle deficit of older generations is mainly based on public transfers, while in the case of younger generations it is mainly financed from private transfers. The working-age generation faces a ‘triple burden’ as it finances the lifecycle deficit of older generations by paid taxes and the consumption of the young generation by private transfers. They also need to save more to be able to finance their future consumption to a larger extent from their savings. Recent policy developments show that the pressure of an increase of pension expenditure caused by demographic changes is offset by reducing pension transfers by changing benefit formulae or benefit indexation as well as increasing the effective pensionable age. The span of effective economic activity is relatively short, particularly for women. A gender gap in labor income is also linked to a gender gap in the pension income, which leads to further transfers between men and women at older ages. Income inequalities between older people increase following reforms of pension systems that tighten the link between lifetime earnings and pensions. Mortality differences interact with government programmes for the elderly (e.g., pension systems) and may reduce or even reverse the direction of income redistribution.

Poverty of the Elderly in Korea

Korea’s elderly poverty rate remains very high. The fact that a society long governed by the Confucian idea of respect for the elderly has a high elderly poverty rate is ironic. This paper reveals the causes of the exceptionally high poverty rate of the elderly in Korea. Significant reductions in the birth rate and the rapid aging of the population have fueled reductions in private transfers from adult children to elderly parents. Efforts to strengthen the public transfer system have not kept pace with reductions in private transfers in relieving elderly poverty. Korea’s experience provides policy implications to developing countries.

Association of health-related private transfers with treatment compliance of musculoskeletal disorders in the rural elderly: evidence from an underdeveloped region of China

Background The prevalence and economic burdens of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are serious in rural China. In addition to formal support, health-related private transfers (HRPTs), including adult children transfers (ACTs), as well as relatives and friends transfers (RFTs), are very common in rural China. We explored the relationship between HRPTs and MSD treatment compliance and the heterogeneity of this relationship in terms of family socioeconomic status. Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out in Enshi, Hubei, China by stratified random sampling in July 15–25,2018. A total of 2679 questionnaires on the economic burden of chronic diseases were collected. We deleted two questionnaires with missing data. The data was described using the mean and proportion. The Chi-square test and one-way ANOVA was used to compare each independent variable in the three groups, and ordered probit regression was used to analyse the relationship between each factor and treatment compliance. The heterogeneity of the effect was examined by group regression analysis of the samples with or without poverty. Results In total, 853 samples with MSD were included in the analysis. The age was 70.27 ± 6.97 (mean +/− sd) years old, and the ADL was 11.64 ± 0.12, with more respondents being female (56.15%), partnered (73.51%), primary school educated (45.96%), working (57.91%), feeling poor in health (55.69%), lived alone or with a spouse (54.75%). Respondents with both ACTs and RFTs had better treatment compliance, and this was significant only in poor populations (p < 0.05). Under the same HRPTs’ condition, respondents who more compliant with MSD treatment were female (p < 0.01), had primary school education (p < 0.05), has self-reported poor (p < 0.01) and very poor (p < 0.05) health, had a high level of physical disability (p < 0.01), and were living with their children and grandchildren (p < 0.05). Respondents with more chronic diseases had poorer treatment compliance (p < 0.05). Conclusions Only those in poverty who both have ACTs and RFTs are likely to have better treatment compliance for MSD. Promoting a culture of filial piety and fostering harmonious interpersonal relationships, policies that focus on groups that lack social support, and general formal support are essential for sustained access to treatment for MSD.

Public funding of education as a factor of economic growth

The main approaches to the analysis of the impact of education on economic growth consist in assessing the link between economic growth indicators (GDP/GDP growth per capita) and three groups of educational indicators: quantitative ones (educational attainment – coverage of population by an education level), qualitative ones (standardized grades of students) and the amounts of educational funding. At the same time, educational attainment and the quality of knowledge obtained depend on the amount of educational funding. The article proves that there is a significant positive relationship between indicators of state funding of higher and secondary education per student and a country's total factor productivity. At the same time, there is no unified optimal scheme for the distribution of public funding between the educational levels: to accelerate the pace of economic growth, some countries prioritize primary education, others – secondary or higher education. As stated in the article, this depends on the country's technological level, the existing educational and professional structure of human capital, and such contextual factors, as the quality of institutions in the country. The article discusses practical approaches to financing various levels of education at the expense of public and private funds, where the latter are presented in the context of private funds, and state transfers to families with students – that is public-to-private transfers. The article concludes that public educational funding – both direct and in the form of public-to-private transfers – concidered at various levels, indicates prioritization of the specific educational and professional composition of human capital. The results of the study indicate the need to harmonize approaches to budgetary processes in the field of educational funding with a country's technological, qualificational, and institutional prerequisites, as well as with strategic forecasts of the socio-economic development of national economies.