Study in China finds that retirement may accelerate cognitive decline, even for those with stable income

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The Study: Pension Benefits, Early Retirement and Human Capital Depreciation in Late Adulthood (Papers, arXiv.org) Abstract: Historically, economists have mainly focused on human capital accumulation and considerably less so 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 the introduction of a retirement program in China, we examine how the introduction of a retirement program influences individual cognition. We find large negative effects of pension benefits on cognitive functioning among the elderly. We detect the most substantial impact of the program to be on delayed recall, which is a significant predictor of the onset of dementia. We show suggestive evidence that the program leads to larger negative impacts among women. We show that retirement plays a significant role in explaining cognitive decline at older ages. The Study in Context: What are cognitive abilities, and how to boost them? To Harness Neuroplasticity, Start with Enthusiasm Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging Want to train your brain? Work as a physician, air traffic controller, financial analyst (or similar) The post Study in China finds that retirement may accelerate cognitive decline, even for those with stable income appeared f...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning aging China cognition cognitive decline cognitive-abilities cognitive-functioning cognitive-skills dementia developing countries mental retirement middle-income countries neuropl Source Type: blogs