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的比较研究，利用德国和波兰的相似和不同之处，提高对老年人物质条件和幸福之间关系的理解。结合来自社会学和经济学的私人投资机构及其合作者的经验，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幸福的决定因素。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，以确保所有公民直到老年都能过上高质量的生活。具体地说，我们将评估个人面临的不同类型的风险，包括他们年老时的物质条件，个人和背景层面上的不同保险机制，以及它们对个人福祉的影响。晚年生活的风险包括需求水平的变化导致额外支出(例如医疗保健)和物质资源(例如住房财富)的贬值，这些在老年人中不再容易得到补偿。根据机构环境和地区条件的不同，针对此类老年风险的保险差别很大，并影响老年人的物质条件和幸福结果。为了分析这种宏观-微观联系，利用两国之间的重大体制变化和差异，以及两国内部高度的区域差异，我们将创建一个独特的关联数据集，将来自欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查的个人层面的纵向信息与德国和波兰的详细区域数据(LAU1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、福祉及其各自联系方面的差异；2)地区层面因素在物质需求方面的风险保险方面的作用(特别是。(3)资产价值对于个人对物质条件和福祉的认知的重要性；以及(4)区域层面因素在物质资源(特别是医疗)风险保障程度方面的作用。我们预计我们的项目将对增进对老年人福祉决定因素的理解做出重大贡献，并通过对国际和区域差异的详细分析，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.