Retirement, Cognitive Function and Health

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24330093
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic policy
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: Sakata Kei 立命館大学, 経済学部, 教授 (60346137)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): McKenzie Colin 慶應義塾大学, 経済学部, 教授 (10220980) ; 梶谷 真也 明星大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (60510807)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 高齢者 / 認知能力 / 健康 / 労働時間 / 引退

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project examined the causal impact of the duration of retirement on the cognitive functioning of male elderly workers in Japan using data from the National Survey of Japanese Elderly. We also explored how the complexity of a worker's longest served job affects cognitive functioning after retirement. Our empirical evidence suggests that the duration of retirement has a negative and significant impact on cognitive functioning. Moreover, among the eight dimensions of job characteristics, high complexity in the job’s relation to data is found to be an important job characteristic in delaying the deterioration of cognitive functioning after retirement. Furthermore, we examined the causal impact of working hours on the cognitive ability and health of people living in Australia aged 40 years and older. Our findings show that working relatively moderate hours for a week can have a positive impact on cognitive functioning and health.

Free Research Field

労働経済学