SHARE Wave 4 Book Launch
On June 27th 2013 the publication of „Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. First Results from SHARE after the Economic Crisis” as well as the official launch of Wave 4 have been celebrated in Brussels.
The book itself is available as an open access version right here. 33 chapters provide a detailed overview of the effects the economic crisis had on the lives of older people in 16 European countries.
Opening the event, Prof. Axel Börsch-Supan, Ph.D. gave an introduction to SHARE and emphasized that population ageing is one of the key challenges of the 21st century for the European Union as a whole. In order to tackle these challenges, monitoring and benchmarking is required, which SHARE provides through its cross-national, interdisciplinary and longitudinal design. Wave 4, as emphasized by Dr. Martina Brandt, assistant coordinator of SHARE, contributes to innovative research on several levels: important in this context are the new social networks module, additional biomarkers (dried blood spots, height, waist circumference, blood pressure) as well as the possibility of linking SHARE data to administrative pension data.
Following this introduction to SHARE, insights into specific topics were provided in presentations by Michał Myck, Ph.D. (“Poverty and transitions in key areas of quality of life”, co-authored with Dr. Maja Adena), Prof. Gábor Kézdi, Ph.D. (”Low employment among the 50+ population in Hungary: the role of incentives, health and cognitive capacities”, co-authored with János Divényi), Dr. Tabea Bucher-Koenen (“The recent economic crisis and old age health in Europe”, co-authored with Fabrizio Mazzonna, Ph.D.) and Giacomo Pasini, Ph.D. (“Grandchild care and the receipt of help at older ages”, co-authored with Prof. Agar Brugiavini, Ph.D., Raluca Elena Buia & Francesca Zantomio). These chapters demonstrate the large variety of research possible with SHARE data.
This relevance of SHARE research was also emphasized by the external guests invited to the Wave 4 launch: both Georg Fischer (DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, Director for Analysis, Evaluation, External Relations) and Dr. Ludwig Kronthaler (Max Planck Society, Secretary General) highlighted the role that SHARE plays regarding procedures of policy-making and stated that research in the fields of demography, pension and health is of utmost importance in order to understand and provide policies aiming at altering long-term effects of population ageing. One of the most central aspects in this context was also stressed by Dr. Dietrich Nelle (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Head of Directorate): as population ageing is a phenomenon common in all European countries, the internationally comparative perspective and the longitudinal design of SHARE are crucial. Funding transnational research infrastructures, as shown by Ana Arana Antelo (DG Research & Innovation), remain a complex endeavor supported by the European Commission. Marianne van den Berg, Ph.D. (Policy Analyst Innovation for Health & Consumers) furthermore underlined the relevance of research on the topic of ageing societies by introducing the “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing”.
In addition to the speeches held in Brussels, a poster presentation of SHARE’s international partner projects took place where CHANCES (Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States), DARIAH (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities), DASISH (Data Service Infrastructure for the Social Sciences and Humanities), ELSA (English Longitudinal Study of Ageing), ESS (European Social Survey), NORLAG (Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study), CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), MHAS (Mexican Health and Aging Study) and Gentrans (Generational Transmissions in Finland) were our guests.
Following documents are available for download:
- The book itself is available via open access
- Agenda
- Press release in english / german with a summary of the results
- Photos of the event
- Youtube channel with video coverage
PowerPoint presentations:
- Presentation "Welcome" by Axel-Börsch-Supan
- "Introduction to SHARE Wave 4" by Martina Brandt
- "Poverty and transitions in key areas of quality of life" by Michał Myck
- "Low employment among the 50+ population in Hungary" by Gábor Kézdi
- "The recent economic crisis and old-age health in Europe" by Tabea Bucher-Koenen
- "Long-term care and reciprocity" by Giacomo Pasini
- "First Results from SHARE after the economic crisis" by Axel-Börsch-Supan
- "European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing" by Marianne van den Berg
