Design and Development
Indexing Pension Age to Life Expectancy: A Critique from a Rawlsian Social Justice Perspective
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Wouter De Tavernier
One of the main challenges population ageing poses to the welfare state is the affordability of the pension system. In order to make their pension systems more robust, several industrialised countries have passed legislation to increase the retirement age and to link it to life expectancy. While these reforms are made with the financial sustainability of the pension system in mind, little is known about their social sustainability. This paper focuses on how the indexation of the retirement age to life expectancy affects social inequalities in old age. The paper consists of three sections. First, we elaborate on Schokkaert and Van Parijs’ (2003) Rawlsian conception of social justice and pension reforms, with a focus on indexing the retirement age to life expectancy. In a second step, we describe the pension reforms implemented in four countries (Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) increasing the retirement age and linking it to life expectancy, and subsequently we analyse them from a social justice perspective. Finally, some simulations are made to illustrate the income inequalities in old age generated by indexing the retirement age to life expectancy. Based on our initial findings, we conclude that, even though social justice is used as an argument for increasing the retirement age from an intergenerational perspective of financial sustainability, linking the retirement age to life expectancy harms those same principles of social justice when approached from an intra-generational perspective of social sustainability.
The Problematic Securitization of Nursing Homes : Cross-Country Evidence from Healthcare REITs Markets in France, UK and Japan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Natacha Aveline Dubach
The rapid growth of the 75+ population in European and Asian countries forces us to consider the necessary provision of new nursing homes. In a context of a shrinking welfare state, financial investors and property developers are increasingly driven towards the market for institutional care. Unlike previous studies on nursing homes that primarily focus on care services, this paper takes the perspective of the provision of built space. More specifically, it examines to what extent and under what conditions the securitization of nursing homes through Healthcare REITs (HC-REITs) may contribute to satisfying the needs of dependent elderly. The development of HC-REITs is promoted with the rationale to encourage healthcare providers to expand their core activity by transferring the ownership of their properties to specialized property managers. HC-REITs are also expected to increase the supply of nursing homes by constructing (or entrusting developers to construct) new facilities. Yet despite their comparatively attracting characteristics for investors, HC-REIT markets are not experiencing significant growth. This paper gives evidence of several structural impediments to REIT development, drawing on a cross-country survey of three major REIT markets (in UK, France, and Japan) involving in-depth and structured interviews of a range of players in the healthcare and real-estate industries. It highlights, in particular, the role of stringent financial criteria that limit the selection of properties and reduce the consumer base. These findings contribute to bringing a more nuanced approach to the view that finance capital can be a mainstream supplier of social assets.
Ageing by Design: The Role of the Art School in Creating a Sustainable Future
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alex Franklin
Many designers in the UK - including graphic designers, communication designers, textile designers, interior designers and fashion designers, to name but a few - all start their professional training in an Art School. The educating of designers alongside artists - rather than alongside engineers or architects - sits within a very particular historical tradition of arts education, one which demanded that such creative practitioners serve not only the needs of industry but also the aesthetic, moral and practical needs of the population. This paper will argue that, in this context, the needs of the ageing population should be integrated into design pedagogy, in much the same way as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are beginning to be. Many of the 'problems' faced by ageing individuals are design problems, ones which could be preempted and solved if the education of future design practitioners included work on the life-course of their future consumers and the changing physical requirements of the body over time.
