Working Papers

George Kudrna, John Piggott and Phitawat Poonpolkul

Abstract: This paper examines the economy-wide effects of government policies to extend public pensions in emerging Asia - particularly pertinent given the region's large informal sector and rapid population ageing. We first document stylized facts about Indonesia's labour force, drawing on the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS). This household survey is then used to calibrate micro behaviours in a stochastic, overlapping-generations (OLG) model with formal and informal labour. The benchmark model is calibrated to the Indonesian economy (2000- 2019), fitted to Indonesian demographic, household survey, macroeconomic and fiscal data. The model is applied to simulate pension policy extensions targeted to formal labour (contributory pension extensions to all formal workers with formal retirement age increased from 55 to 65), as well as to informal labour (introduction of non-contributory social pensions to informal 65+). First, abstracting from population ageing, we show that: (i) the first set of pension policy extensions (that have already been legislated and are being implemented in Indonesia) have positive effects on consumption, labour supply and welfare (of formal workers) (due largely to the formal retirement age extension); (ii) the introduction of social pensions targeted to informal workers at older age generates large welfare gains for currently living informal elderly; and (iii) the overall pension reform leads to higher welfare across the employment-skill distribution of households. We then extend the model to account for demographic transition, finding that the overall pension reform makes the contributory pension system more sustainable but the fiscal cost of non-contributory social pensions more than triples to 1.7% of GDP in the long run. As an alternative, we examine application of a means- tested social pension system within the overall pension reform. We show that this counterfactual reduces the fiscal cost (of social pensions) and further increases the welfare for both current and future generations.

Keywords: Informal Labour, Population Ageing, Social Security, Taxation, Redistribution, Stochastic General Equilibrium.

Manuela Naldini, Myra Hamilton and Elisabeth Adamson

Abstract: The social investment paradigm has received widespread attention as an approach to ‘prepare’ individuals, families, and societies to respond to new social risks they are likely to encounter throughout the life course, particularly those associated with post-industrialisation and globalisation. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) and policies that support women to participate in employment have been a central focus of the social investment paradigm. But while post-industrialisation and globalisation are closely linked to increases in migration, migrant families are largely absent from social investment policies. From a social investment perspective, access to ECEC and work/care reconciliation policy measures are crucial for migrant children and families. Yet there is a gap in the social investment literature when it comes to access to ECEC and work/care reconciliation policies by migrant families. Against this backdrop, this paper asks: To what extent are migrant families included or excluded from ECEC and work/care reconciliation policies in the two countries? Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of eligibility for and access to ECEC and work/care policies by migrant families in Australia and Italy, this paper critically examines the capacity of the social investment approach to respond to new life course risks associated with migration and mobility. This paper compares social investment policies for migrant families in two countries: Australia and Italy. These two countries have markedly different migration, employment, and care regimes, with both similarities and differences in the organisation of ECEC and policies to promote work/care reconciliation. It draws attention to the way in which the emergence of the social investment paradigm to address ‘new social risks’ does not take account of the importance of migration and mobility in the contemporary life course. Manuela Naldini, Myra Hamilton and Elisabeth Adamson

George Kudrna, Trang Le and John Piggott

Abstract: We document the economic and social circumstances of older people in Indonesia, a low-income country with a population of 273 million, in the context of rapid demographic transition. We find that, in common with a number of other emerging economies in East and South East Asia, most older people in Indonesia are experiencing significant hardship, with nearly half either in poverty or vulnerable to poverty. Economic growth per se does not seem to lead to an improvement in the circumstances of these cohorts. Ongoing societal ageing suggests that this situation will become more critical in the next couple of decades. A major effort in developing effective and sustainable social protection structures to provide support to the future elderly in Indonesia is required. Constructing an informed macro-demographic profile of an emerging economy can be a daunting challenge, but is an essential pre-cursor to evidence based social policy development focused on older cohorts. This paper draws on demographic and household survey data in Indonesia to craft a profile of older cohorts in Indonesia, within a context of changing education and labour force participation. This work has been undertaken to provide context and data for a major research effort around the development of a detailed macroeconomic model to analyse and assess appropriate social protection applications. But it has generated insights into the circumstances of older cohorts, and associated changes through time, which have value in their own right.

We report that:

• Indonesia will undergo pronounced population ageing driven by a reduction in total fertility rate. For example, the aged dependency ratio (65+/15-64) is projected to increase from less than 10% (in 2020) to over 46% in 2100. This is also attributed to an increasing life expectancy, particularly at older ages. For those at age 65, life expectancy is projected to increase by almost 20 years in 2100 (which is almost double the expected lifespan in the middle of the 20th century). Indonesia’s total population has also quadrupled to 273 million (in 2020) since 1950 and is projected to increase to 320 million in 2100. However, the annual population growth rate will become negative, reaching -0.3% in 2100 due to population ageing.
• Importantly, drawing on IFLS household survey data, this demographic transition is occurring in an economy where the large majority of the labour force operates in informal employment, not covered by a formal retirement income policy or, currently, a social pension.
• At older ages, people continue to derive their income mainly from employment, along with private transfers from their adult children and these two income sources will be impacted by fewer adult children (to provide private transfers) and longer lifespans (affecting the labour supply of older people).