Gender differences in the mental health impact of the COVID-19 lockdown:Longitudinal evidence from the Netherlands

Recent contributions highlighted gender differences in the mental health consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns. However, their cross-sectional designs cannot differentiate between pre-existing gender differences and differences induced by lockdowns. Estimating fixed-effects models using longitudinal data from the Lifelines biobank and cohort study with repeated mental health measurements throughout the lockdown, we overcome this caveat. Significant gender differences in mental health during the lockdown were found, where women experienced more depression symptoms and disorders and men experienced more anxiety symptoms and disorders stemming from the lockdown. Policymakers need to keep in mind that the COVID-19 lockdowns have different effects on mental health for men and women

Annuity Market Imperfection, Retirement and Economic Growth

We study the effects of an annuity market imperfection on individual agents’ labour supply and retirement decisions and on the macroeconomic growth rate in an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth. We model imperfect annuities by introducing a load factor on the interest rate faced by finitely-lived agents. Our core model features age-independent wages and a constant mortality rate. In the first extension we study the implications for microeconomic decisions and macroeconomic outcomes of a hump-shaped life-cycle profile in labour productivity, whilst in the second extension we postulate a realistic mortality process. Our main findings are that the limited availability of annuities induces agents to retire early in the first two models, but later in the model with age-dependent mortality. In all cases, the general equilibrium repercussion is that economic growth is lower under imperfect annuities than with perfect annuities.annuity markets, retirement, endogenous growth, overlapping generations, demography

A Descriptive Model of Banking and Aggregate Demand

We integrate a banking sector into an accessible macroeconomic framework, which then provides new insights on developments around the Global Financial Crisis. The analysis shows that growth of banking sector money supply may help explain the secular decline in long-term interest rates before the crisis. A new bank funding channel of monetary transmission clarifies why increases in central bank policy rates could not reverse this trend. Our analysis highlights the distinction between the zero lower bound and the liquidity trap, and shows that bank recapitalizations can be more effective than fiscal expansions in restoring aggregate demand after a banking crisis

The Tragedy of Annuitization

We construct a tractable discrete-time overlapping generations model of a closed economy and use it to study government redistribution of accidental bequests and private annuities in general equilibrium. Individuals face longevity risk as there is a positive probability of passing away before the retirement period. We find non-pathological cases where it is better for longrun welfare to waste accidental bequests than to give them to the elderly. Next we study the introduction of a perfectly competitive life insurance market offering actuarially fair annuities. There exists a tragedy of annuitization: although full annuitization of assets is privately optimal it is not socially beneficial due to adverse general equilibrium repercussions.Longevity risk, Risk sharing, Overlapping generations, Intergenerational transfers, Annuity markets

The contours of the new health system:competition is over

In het Nederlandse zorgstelsel is het zorgaanbod niet langer groter dan de vraag. Concurrentie is verleden tijd en de zoektocht naar een nieuwe basis is begonnen. De balans tussen zorg en gezondheid moet worden hersteld. Regio’s krijgen een centralere rol en wettelijk verankerde gezondheidsdoelen staan op de agenda. Hoe komt dit nieuwe stelsel eruit te zien?Increasing waiting lists and a structural staff shortage are putting pressure on the health system. Because care production is lower than care demand, there is no longer competition. Competition is over and we are beginning to see the contours of the new health system. The new system takes health instead of care as its starting point by legally embedding health goals in addition to the duty of care. The new system is based on health regions, but does not require a regional health authority. It is based on health manifestos that include agreements about cooperation in good and bad times.</p

The contours of the new health system:competition is over

In het Nederlandse zorgstelsel is het zorgaanbod niet langer groter dan de vraag. Concurrentie is verleden tijd en de zoektocht naar een nieuwe basis is begonnen. De balans tussen zorg en gezondheid moet worden hersteld. Regio’s krijgen een centralere rol en wettelijk verankerde gezondheidsdoelen staan op de agenda. Hoe komt dit nieuwe stelsel eruit te zien?Increasing waiting lists and a structural staff shortage are putting pressure on the health system. Because care production is lower than care demand, there is no longer competition. Competition is over and we are beginning to see the contours of the new health system. The new system takes health instead of care as its starting point by legally embedding health goals in addition to the duty of care. The new system is based on health regions, but does not require a regional health authority. It is based on health manifestos that include agreements about cooperation in good and bad times.</p

The contours of the new health system:competition is over

In het Nederlandse zorgstelsel is het zorgaanbod niet langer groter dan de vraag. Concurrentie is verleden tijd en de zoektocht naar een nieuwe basis is begonnen. De balans tussen zorg en gezondheid moet worden hersteld. Regio’s krijgen een centralere rol en wettelijk verankerde gezondheidsdoelen staan op de agenda. Hoe komt dit nieuwe stelsel eruit te zien?Increasing waiting lists and a structural staff shortage are putting pressure on the health system. Because care production is lower than care demand, there is no longer competition. Competition is over and we are beginning to see the contours of the new health system. The new system takes health instead of care as its starting point by legally embedding health goals in addition to the duty of care. The new system is based on health regions, but does not require a regional health authority. It is based on health manifestos that include agreements about cooperation in good and bad times.</p