Abstract
Valkonen and Barslund provide new research results on demographic trends and their influence on national economies. This chapter emphasizes uncertainty on future demographics referring to the pessimistic projections on life expectancies, which have delayed preparations for population ageing. Correspondingly, the convergence of male and female life expectancies cannot be taken for granted. The number of elderly people living alone is, however, very likely to multiply, when baby boomers age. The results on pension policies show that raising the retirement age is an effective way of improving fiscal sustainability. In the presence of progressive unemployment benefits and disability pensions, it can also increase redistribution. Ongoing postponement of the effective retirement age weakens the relevance of summary measures of ageing, such as the old-age dependency ratio.
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Valkonen, T.J., Barslund, M.C. (2019). Achieving Economic Sustainability in Ageing Societies. In: Walker, A. (eds) The Future of Ageing in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1417-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1417-9_3
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