Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232684 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13932
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Economists have mainly focused on human capital accumulation and considerably less on the causes and consequences of human capital depreciation in late adulthood. Studying human capital depreciation over the life cycle has powerful economic consequences for decision-making in old age. Using data from China, we examine how a new retirement program affects cognitive performance. We find large negative effects of pension benefits on cognitive functioning among the elderly. We detect the most substantial impact of the program on delayed recall, a significant predictor of the onset of dementia. We show suggestive evidence that the program leads to larger negative impacts among women. We demonstrate that retirement and access to a retirement pension plan plays a significant role in explaining cognitive decline at older ages.
Subjects: 
life cycle
cognitive functioning
cognition
aging
health
mental retirement
middle-income countries
LMICs
developing countries
China
JEL: 
O12
J24
J26
H55
H75
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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