The Economic Impacts of Population Ageing in Japan

The Economic Impacts of Population Ageing in Japan
Author: Landis MacKellar
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781843763604

Whilst all of the major industrialized countries are currently experiencing population ageing, Japan is at the forefront of this demographic trend. This important new book explores the serious economic and social challenges that a rapidly ageing Japanese economy will have to overcome in the first half of the 21st century. Following a comprehensive review of the economics of ageing both in general and in Japan, the authors present a range of future scenarios produced using an integrated economic-demographic model. This unique model integrates demography and the macro-economy, paying special attention to pensions, health care, and long-term care. The results reveal that, even if future demographic trends are more favourable than predicted, Japan will still experience a slowdown of economic growth, reduced savings, and rising costs of pensions, health care and long-term care. However, with appropriate policy measures and rapid implementation, the authors believe that a situation in which both young and old continue to experience long-term improvements in well-being remains possible.This book is arguably the best available English language survey on the economic implications of population trends in Japan. It will be widely read by researchers of economics, demography, public policy and public finance, and will also provide useful supplemental reading for graduate or upper undergraduate courses in economics, social policy, and Asian studies.

Aging in the United States and Japan

Aging in the United States and Japan
Author: Yukio Noguchi
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226590216

Japanese and American economists assess the present economic status of the elderly in the United States and Japan, and consider the impact of an aging population on the economies of the two countries. With essays on labor force participation and retirement, housing equity and the economic status of the elderly, budget implications of an aging population, and financing social security and health care in the 1990s, this volume covers a broad spectrum of issues related to the economics of aging. Among the book's findings are that workers are retiring at an increasingly earlier age in both countries and that, as the populations age, baby boomers in the United States will face diminishing financial resources as the ratio of retirees to workers sharply increases. The result of a joint venture between the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, this book complements Housing Markets in the United States and Japan (1994) by integrating research on housing markets with economic issues of the aged in the United States and Japan.

The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia

The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia
Author: Takatoshi Ito
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2010-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226386880

Recent studies show that almost all industrial countries have experienced dramatic decreases in both fertility and mortality rates. This situation has led to aging societies with economies that suffer from both a decline in the working population and a rise in fiscal deficits linked to increased government spending. East Asia exemplifies these trends, and this volume offers an in-depth look at how long-term demographic transitions have taken shape there and how they have affected the economy in the region. The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia assembles a group of experts to explore such topics as comparative demographic change, population aging, the rising cost of health care, and specific policy concerns in individual countries. The volume provides an overview of economic growth in East Asia as well as more specific studies on Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. Offering important insights into the causes and consequences of this transition, this book will benefit students, researchers, and policy makers focused on East Asia as well as anyone concerned with similar trends elsewhere in the world.

Low Fertility and Population Aging in Japan and Eastern Asia

Low Fertility and Population Aging in Japan and Eastern Asia
Author: Toru Suzuki
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 95
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 4431547800

This book provides a unique comparative view of the extremely low fertility and drastic population aging in Eastern Asian countries. After discussing demographic and political developments of Japan in detail as a reference case, accelerated changes in Korea, Taiwan and China are interpreted with a comparative cultural view. In addition to the well-known cultural divide between countries with strong and weak family ties, this book proposes another divide between offspring of the feudal family and that of the Confucian family. Included is a discussion of how the discrepancy between the compressed change in the socioeconomic system and the slow change in the family system has resulted in extremely low fertility in Eastern Asia. A comparison of policy development reveals that the sense of overpopulation has caused difficulty in launching pro-natal policy interventions in Eastern Asia, especially in China. Impacts of fertility decline on population aging, total dependency ratio and the timing of population decline in Eastern Asia are analyzed with a stylized model. The remaining Confucian family pattern is especially important in understanding and predicting political development to cope with accelerated population aging. This book is a valuable resource for researchers who are interested in the latest and most surprising demographic phenomena in the region.

Aging and the Macroeconomy

Aging and the Macroeconomy
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2013-01-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309261961

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. In the coming decades, people aged 65 and over will make up an increasingly large percentage of the population: The ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 will rise by 80%. This shift is happening for two reasons: people are living longer, and many couples are choosing to have fewer children and to have those children somewhat later in life. The resulting demographic shift will present the nation with economic challenges, both to absorb the costs and to leverage the benefits of an aging population. Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population presents the fundamental factors driving the aging of the U.S. population, as well as its societal implications and likely long-term macroeconomic effects in a global context. The report finds that, while population aging does not pose an insurmountable challenge to the nation, it is imperative that sensible policies are implemented soon to allow companies and households to respond. It offers four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape.

The Political Economy of Population Aging

The Political Economy of Population Aging
Author: Kimiko Terai
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN: 9789811655371

This book integrates the economics of aging and insight based on political economy and explores generational conflict in the context of governmental spending. This problem is general, as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted: lockdowns protect the elderly, but hurt the young. Policies to address global warming impose taxes on the elderly, but would bring benefits largely in the future. This book addresses intergenerational problems by placing its focus on budget allocation, taxation, and regulation. By using Japanese and US data, the authors conduct statistical analysis of whether regions with aging populations may adopt policies that generate benefits during a short period of time instead of policies that could benefit current young generations for an extended period of time. If the policy preferences of voters depend on their age, and if policy adoption by a government reflects public opinion, the change in demographic composition in a region may affect governmental policies. In an aged society, the elderly are pivotal voters. Budgets may be reallocated from policies favored by younger generations, such as education, to policies the elderly prefer, such as welfare programs. This generates an intergenerational externality problem: voters with short life expectancy do not take into consideration long-term benefits. Moreover, the current tax bases may be replaced by other tax bases that do not harm the elderly. The results reported in the book largely support these hypotheses. Evidence also shows that the gender and racial composition and institutional factors, including the extent of fiscal decentralization, are important in anticipating effects of population aging in other countries. .

Population Decline and Ageing in Japan - The Social Consequences

Population Decline and Ageing in Japan - The Social Consequences
Author: Florian Coulmas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2007-05-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1134145012

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of one of the most pressing challenges facing Japan today: population decline and ageing. It argues that social ageing is a phenomenon that follows in the wake of industrialization, urbanization and social modernization, bringing about changes in values, institutions, social structures, economic activity, technology and culture, and posing many challenges for the countries affected. Focusing on the experience of Japan, the author explores: how Japan has recognized the emerging problems relatively early because during the past half century population ageing has been more rapid in Japan than in any other country how all of Japanese society is affected by social ageing, not just certain substructures and institutions, and explains its complex causes, describes the resulting challenges and analyses the solutions under consideration to deal with it the nature of Japan’s population dynamics since 1920, and argues that Japan is rapidly moving in the direction of a ‘hyperaged society’ in which those sixty-five or older account for twenty-five per cent of the total population the implications for family structures and other social networks, gender roles and employment patterns, health care and welfare provision, pension systems, immigration policy, consumer and voting behaviour and the cultural reactions and ramifications of social ageing.

Aging in Asia

Aging in Asia
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2012-07-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309254094

The population of Asia is growing both larger and older. Demographically the most important continent on the world, Asia's population, currently estimated to be 4.2 billion, is expected to increase to about 5.9 billion by 2050. Rapid declines in fertility, together with rising life expectancy, are altering the age structure of the population so that in 2050, for the first time in history, there will be roughly as many people in Asia over the age of 65 as under the age of 15. It is against this backdrop that the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) asked the National Research Council (NRC), through the Committee on Population, to undertake a project on advancing behavioral and social research on aging in Asia. Aging in Asia: Findings from New and Emerging Data Initiatives is a peer-reviewed collection of papers from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand that were presented at two conferences organized in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, and Science Council of Japan; the first conference was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and the second conference was hosted by the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi. The papers in the volume highlight the contributions from new and emerging data initiatives in the region and cover subject areas such as economic growth, labor markets, and consumption; family roles and responsibilities; and labor markets and consumption.

Trends and Factors in Japan's Long-Term Care Insurance System

Trends and Factors in Japan's Long-Term Care Insurance System
Author: Pedro Olivares-Tirado
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9400778759

Ageing population poses a set of complex policy and dilemmas for social security systems, intensifying the concerns about rising expenditures in health care and long-term care for elderly. In this context, ageing societies has many valuable lessons to learn by studying Japan's experience dealing with its hyper-aged society and particularly from its strategies to ensure the financial sustainability of the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system. Based on an exhaustive literature review, and the results from six original researches on long-term care expenditures in Japan (LTCE) conducted during a doctoral program, the book provides a comprehensive view in analyzing trends and factors associated with increasing expenditures in the Long-Term Care Insurance system in Japan. The book address relevant topics such as; the main socio-demographic changes experienced by the Japanese society during the last three decades, predictors of the LTCE, measuring efficiency in nursing homes, the impact of the LTCI 2005-reform to contain expenditures, cost-effectiveness of the in-home and community based services and institutional LTCE in the last year of life. The book end with a discussion on futures challenges and strategies oriented to contribute with the sustainability of LTCI system in Japan.

The Economics of Aging

The Economics of Aging
Author: David A. Wise
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2009-05-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0226903222

The Economics of Aging presents results from an ongoing National Bureau of Economic Research project. Contributors consider the housing mobility and living arrangements of the elderly, their labor force participation and retirement, the economics of their health care, and their financial status. The goal of the research is to further our understanding both of the factors that determine the well-being of the elderly and of the consequences that follow from an increasingly older population with longer individual life spans. Each paper is accompanied by critical commentary.