Material Conditions and Older Age Wellbeing in Germany and Poland: Institutional and Regional Variation in Individual Risks and Insurance Mechanisms.

我们项目的目标是通过跨学科比较研究，利用德国和波兰之间的相似之处和差异，提高对老年物质条件与福祉之间关系的理解。结合PI及其社会学和经济学合作者的经验，我们将解决整个生命过程中的社会不平等问题，并研究不同国家和地区背景下老年人福祉的决定因素。在人口迅速老龄化的时代，这是当今大多数现代社会面临的重大挑战，我们的研究旨在提供可靠的科学证据，以确保所有公民的高质量生活，直到老年。具体而言，我们将评估个人在年老时面临的不同类型的风险，个人和背景层面的不同保险机制，以及它们对个人福祉的影响。晚年的风险包括需求水平的变化，这导致额外的支出（例如，医疗保健）和物质资源（如住房财富）的贬值，这些贬值在老年时不再容易得到补偿。根据不同的体制环境和区域条件，针对这种老年风险的保险差别很大，并影响到老年人的物质条件及其福祉结果。为了分析这种宏观-微观联系，利用两国之间的重大制度变化和差异以及每个国家内部的高度区域差异，我们将创建一个独特的关联数据集，将欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查的个人纵向信息与德国和波兰的详细区域数据（LAU 1和2级）结合起来。我们的分析将涉及以下四个主要领域：1）德国和波兰在物质条件、福利及其各自联系方面的差异; 2）区域层面因素在物质需求方面对风险保险的作用（特别是护理）和他们在老年时的个人福祉结果;3）资产价值对个人对物质条件和福祉的看法的重要性;（4）区域层面因素在物质资源维度上对风险保障程度的作用（特别是住房）和他们在老年时的个人幸福结果。我们希望我们的项目能够为提高对老年人幸福决定因素的理解做出重大贡献，并通过详细分析国际和区域差异，确定有效的干预措施，以支持两国必要的转型进程，并可能得出更广泛的政策结论。

The objective of our project is to improve the understanding of the relationship between material conditions and wellbeing in older age through comparative interdisciplinary research, taking advantage of similarities and differences between Germany and Poland. Combining the experience of the PIs and their collaborators from sociology and economics, we will address social inequalities across the life course and examine the determinants of older age wellbeing within different national and regional contexts. In times of rapid population ageing which represents a major challenge for most modern societies today, our research aims to provide sound scientific evidence to ensure high quality of life for all citizens until old age. Specifically, we will assess different types of risks faced by individuals regarding their material conditions when they age, different insurance mechanisms on the individual and contextual level, and their implications for individual wellbeing. Risks in later life include changes in the level of needs which lead to additional expenditures (e.g., health care) and the depreciation of material resources (e.g. housing wealth) which cannot easily be compensated anymore in older age. Depending on institutional contexts as well as on regional conditions, insurances against such old age risks differ significantly and influence older individuals` material conditions as well as their wellbeing outcomes. To analyse such macro-micro-links, taking advantage of significant institutional changes and differences between the two countries as well as the high level of regional variation within each of them, we will create a unique linked dataset combining individual level longitudinal information from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe with detailed regional data for Germany and Poland (LAU1 & 2 level). Our analyses will address the following four main fields:1) the differences between and within Germany and Poland in material conditions, wellbeing and their respective links; 2) the role of regional level factors for the insurance of risks in the dimension of material needs (esp. care) and their individual wellbeing outcomes in older age;3) the importance of the value of assets for the individual perception of material conditions and wellbeing;and,4) the role of regional level factors for the degree of insurance of risks in the dimension of material resources (esp. housing) and their individual wellbeing outcomes in older age.We expect our project to make a significant contribution to improve the understanding of determinants of wellbeing in older age, and, through detailed analysis of international and regional variation, identify effective interventions to support the necessary transformation processes in both countries with potential broader policy conclusions.