Socio-economic and psychological consequences of the Pandemic for the Great Elderly in Italy: How much is it worth investing in relationship as a factor preventing lonelines

Federico Comes (), Martina Menon () and Federico Perali
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Federico Comes: Department of Economics, University of Verona
Martina Menon: Department of Economics, University of Verona

No 12, Working Papers from SITES

Abstract:

In times of pandemic, according to the survey on the living conditions of the elderly and the quality of their relationships recently conducted by the research group of the REDESIGN project, the economic aspects have been significantly influenced especially for the elderly who live alone, objectively more exposed to the risks of the health emergency. From this point of view, the Italian welfare, which prefers the protection of the elderly, seems to have effectively mitigated the economic impact regardless of income and region of residence, but has shown limits in preventing and treating the intangible aspects related to the non-cognitive, affective and relational sphere of the great elderly, especially for the most fragile and lonely. In general, the willingness to pay is associated both with the need for relationships and with the ability to give, for example, on the part of those who are more sociable or place more trust in others, regardless of financial possibilities. The decision on how much to donate seems instead dominated by purely economic variables. The study estimated that the average level of willingness to pay of the elderly for social networks is 94 euros. This could generate potential funding of around €365 million that Italian communities can mobilise. As a lesson for the future, it will be important to understand how communities and philanthropic institutions of financial intermediation, such as community foundations, can foster the development of autonomous networks to improve the quality of life of the elderly and, at the same time, create the conditions to improve the prevention of situations at high risk to health.

Keywords: Willingness to pay; elderly people; loneliness; social network (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I14 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-eur
Note: SITES Working Papers 12
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