Abstract
Population aging worries many. Will population aging negatively affect economic output and lead to deflation? Can countries
afford to cater for older populations? Can they prevent old-age poverty? Can they pay adequate pensions? Can they address
the challenge of population aging by postponing the retirement age? Should they seek to counteract population aging through
accelerated immigration and/ or should they focus on maintaining fertility rates above replacement levels? Although some answers
to these questions are context-specific, this paper argues that the threat of population aging is overstated. It is hyped
by media and too often based on partial analysis. A macroeconomic analysis provides a more adequate and less threatening picture
of population aging than the household-focused analysis that underlies most studies on this subject matter. The developed
economies that already have a large share of older persons are well positioned to shoulder the economic implications of further
population aging, and rapidly developing economies, which see an accelerated rate of population aging, are too. Many countries
have the economic conditions to address population aging, but many lack the necessary resolve to implement the required policies.
Popular policy responses to population aging are building up to a major wave of income redistribution, following the globalization
of finance and the current responses to the global economic crisis.
afford to cater for older populations? Can they prevent old-age poverty? Can they pay adequate pensions? Can they address
the challenge of population aging by postponing the retirement age? Should they seek to counteract population aging through
accelerated immigration and/ or should they focus on maintaining fertility rates above replacement levels? Although some answers
to these questions are context-specific, this paper argues that the threat of population aging is overstated. It is hyped
by media and too often based on partial analysis. A macroeconomic analysis provides a more adequate and less threatening picture
of population aging than the household-focused analysis that underlies most studies on this subject matter. The developed
economies that already have a large share of older persons are well positioned to shoulder the economic implications of further
population aging, and rapidly developing economies, which see an accelerated rate of population aging, are too. Many countries
have the economic conditions to address population aging, but many lack the necessary resolve to implement the required policies.
Popular policy responses to population aging are building up to a major wave of income redistribution, following the globalization
of finance and the current responses to the global economic crisis.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-24
- DOI 10.1007/s12062-011-9053-5
- Authors
- Michael Herrmann, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158, USA
- Journal Journal of Population Ageing
- Online ISSN 1874-7876
- Print ISSN 1874-7884