LEGENDRE Berangere

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Between 50 and 125 million Europeans are unable to afford the energy needed for adequate heating, cooking, light and use of appliances in the home. Tackling fuel poverty has thus become a public policy challenge. In this article, we assess the effectiveness of social energy subsidies and social housing to reduce fuel poverty. The literature reports that rising fuel prices, low incomes and energy-inefficient housing are the main causes of fuel poverty. Existing public policies focus mainly on price- and income-based measures to reduce fuel poverty, such as social energy subsidies. This type of policy is palliative as it does not permit to sustainably eradicate fuel poverty. Other policies aim to encourage renovation in order to improve energy efficiency. Those policies are curative as they sustainably reduce one cause of fuel poverty: energy inefficiency. In this article, we focus on another public policy to tackle fuel poverty: social housing. We believe that this policy could be preventive, as the literature reports the better energy efficiency of social housing. We use matching methods and find that living in social housing decreases fuel poverty by 5.4% to 9.1%. On the contrary, social energy subsidies have no effect on fuel poverty.

Between 50 and 125 million Europeans are unable to afford the energy needed for adequate heating, cooking, light, and use of appliances in the home. Tackling fuel poverty has thus become a public policy challenge. In this paper, we assess the effectiveness of social energy subsidies and social housing to reduce fuel poverty. The literature reports that rising fuel prices, low incomes, and energy-inefficient housing are the main causes of fuel poverty. Existing public policies focus mainly on price-and income-based measures to reduce fuel poverty, such as social energy subsidies. This type of policy is palliative as it does not permit to sustainably eradicate fuel poverty. Other policies aim to encourage renovation in order to improve energy efficiency. Those policies are curative as they sustainably reduce one cause of fuel poverty : energy inefficiency. In this paper, we focus on another public policy to tackle fuel poverty : social housing. We believe that this policy could be preventive, as the literature reports the better energy efficiency of social housing. We use matching methods and find that living in social housing decreases fuel poverty by 5.4% to 9.1%. On the contrary, social energy subsidies have no effect on fuel poverty.

In this study we suggest that a more careful and systematic understanding of fuel poverty can be developed through a multidimensional approach to the relationship between monetary poverty, residential energy efficiency, and heating restriction. Our objective is to provide new ways to better identify those who suffer the most from fuel poverty to optimize policy. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to measure poverty in three steps following Sen (1979): (i) combining poverty characteristics into an aggregate measure involving a fuel poverty index (FPI), (ii) identification and comparison of poor people according to existing and new definitions and (iii) testing the robustness of the fuel poverty composite indicator. Our results show that the usual measures reveal a gap that does not consider all the dimensions of fuel poverty, excluding those who are at or above a certain threshold, but who are nevertheless vulnerable. The multidimensional approach enables us to consider all the components of fuel poverty.

The ageing of the population in developed countries calls into question the sustainability of pay-as-you-go pension systems. Several reforms have therefore been undertaken to meet this demographic challenge. However, the effects of these reforms have been questioned. Their effectiveness depends on how seniors respond to the reforms. However, senior citizens have very different profiles, particularly in terms of their work environment and family situation. This heterogeneity among seniors can affect their retirement behavior. Not taking into account this diversity in terms of the environments in which seniors evolve can therefore lead to biases when evaluating public policies. Therefore, this thesis analyzes, using econometric methods, the determinants, and particularly the role of occupational and family heterogeneity, of the retirement decision process. First, the heterogeneity of individuals in terms of their professional environment is taken into account in the analysis of the role of quality of life at work in the retirement decision process. Secondly, heterogeneity in terms of family environment is taken into account in the analysis of the decision process within couples and the determinants of this process for each spouse. Finally, an evaluation of public policy through the prism of joint decisions within couples is carried out to test the presence of spillover effects, via the spouse, of the reform on the individual's retirement strategy. The results of this thesis work highlight the important role of heterogeneity among seniors in the retirement decision. These results therefore encourage public policy makers to take into account the heterogeneity of seniors. The coordination of social policies related to retirement, family and quality of life at work is one way to consider this heterogeneity among seniors.

This paper analyzes retirement decisions from a household perspective, treating the retirement timing of spouses as potentially interdependent choices. To identify the determinants of retirement decisions by couples and the effects of spousal retirement, this research estimates bivariate probit models in a multi-country setting. The results show a significant joint retirement trend: Both men and women are more likely to retire if their spouse already has retired. Strong asymmetric behaviors arise by gender though, with high crosscountry heterogeneity, reflecting institutional differences in both pension and public health systems.

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This article investigates the extent to which the distance to retirement affects low employment rates among European older workers, taking into account a key but often neglected determinant: health status. To begin, the study amends McCall's job search model, in which the job search behavior is treated as age dependent. Agents are heterogeneous according to two attributes: distance to retirement and health. This model leads to clear predictions, such that the closer the retirement, the greater the reservation wage and the lower people's search effort. Older workers also exhibit lower exit rates from unemployment , an effect that gets enhanced by health problems. This empirical work, based on a French survey, confirms the existence of a distance effect but also puts the greater impact of health status into perspective. The distance effect explains only part of the puzzle of older workers' employment.

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Fuel poverty is an increasingly serious problem across countries. However, fuel poverty is not well defined and measured. Today, fuel poverty objective measure which takes into account monetary constraint, bad energy efficiency of the dwelling and heating restriction does not exist. Fuel poverty has been mainly treated as a problem of monetary poverty. However households concerned by a fuel poverty issue are not exactly the same than those concerned by monetary problems. Thus, in this paper, we provide the first Fuel Poverty Index (FPI) taking into account all dimensions of the definition. This index is calculated using objective measures such as (i) the disposable income to consider the monetary constraint, (ii) the energy consumption as a measure of energy efficiency and (iii) the indoor temperature in order to capture heating restriction. Using a matching estimation, the quality of the indoor temperature as a proxy of heating restriction is demonstrated.

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This article highlights the effects of a tax differential between working people and retirees on the exposure to poverty, the risk of inequality and the relative living standards of working people and retirees. This analysis is conducted in light of Rawls and Sen's criteria of equity. We address this issue using a standard of living accounting approach by decomposing for each individual the stages of redistribution from the payment of primary income to the receipt of secondary income. Since the status of pensioner is no longer, on average, synonymous with a precarious situation, the derogatory taxation from which they benefit does not seem to correspond to the pursuit of a Rawlsian objective of social justice. On the other hand, the existence of preferential social security tax rates reduces the overexposure of non-taxable retirees to poverty.

What are the determinants of the ownership of long-term savings products used by households to finance their retirement? To answer this question, we use data from the latest wealth survey and propose an econometric analysis of the holding rates of various retirement savings and life insurance products. French households take out life insurance more frequently when they want to save for the long term. While they have historically been reluctant to take out private retirement savings products, the 2003 reform of the pension system led to the introduction of new products specifically dedicated to supplementary retirement financing. The 2010 wealth survey incorporates these new retirement savings products. We show using decision models (probit-variate) that life insurance and retirement savings holdings are complementary and guided by common factors. Age and household composition remain the primary determinants of holding behavior: younger people take out this type of savings product less frequently, while couples seem to have an additional reason for building up long-term savings: protection of the surviving spouse. The self-employed, whether still working or not, are also more likely than private sector employees to have savings products that can be used to finance retirement. Moreover, after controlling for the standard of living of the household to which they belong, it appears that not being a graduate has a significant and relatively large negative impact on the holding of life insurance and retirement savings contracts. Thus, not having a degree increases the.

In the current context of demographic pressures, reforms of PAYG pension systems increase the extent to which individuals are responsible for their own retirement planning. The French pension system offered high replacement rates. The population used to consider that the State scheme had to provide them with an adequat level of pension. In 2003, the pension reform implemented individual and professional pension plans. These retirement savings contracts are not well developed. However, we observed that individuals prefer contracting life endowment contracts, which are long term savings supports, to prepare retirement. Using econometric specifications, we intend to put into perspective the households and individual characteristics which explain the holding behaviours of life endowment contracts and retirement savings plans. We conclude that the highest professional categories and the most educated individuals hold more frequently and simultanesously both types of contracts.

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The aim of this thesis is to provide as complete an overview as possible of poverty and inequality in retirement in France and Europe from the end of the twentieth century to the present, but also to identify the role of certain public policies in the fight against poverty and inequality. Given the economic and demographic constraints on pension systems, studying the sources of inequality and poverty, as well as the effective mechanisms for fighting inequality and poverty in retirement, is currently relevant in order to better anticipate future risks. To do so, we identify poor retired populations, as well as inequality and inequity factors, while defining the central concepts of intra-generational and inter-generational inequality and equity, and also what is pensioner poverty in developed countries today. We first propose a general equilibrium model to evaluate the impacts of economic policy shocks, as well as the consequences of a demographic shock. Then, empirical analyses of inequality and poverty are proposed in order to highlight the link between tax, social protection and redistribution systems on the one hand, and inequality in retirement on the other hand. We conclude that pension systems and the architecture of redistribution, in France and in Europe, have reduced inequality and poverty in retirement. The average standard of living of retired households is now equivalent to that of working households. The reforms of pension systems currently underway will therefore have to take into account not only the deteriorated demographic and economic environment (slowdown in economic growth, increase in the unemployment rate and career hazards, etc.) but also the efficient nature of the redistributive architecture as it exists today.