R&D, human capital, fertility, and growth

This paper analyzes how the decisions of individuals to have children and acquire skills affect long-term growth. We investigate a model in which technical progress, human capital, and population arise endogenously. In such an economy, the presence of distortions (such as monopolistic competition, knowledge spillover, and duplication effects) leads the decentralized long-run growth to be either insufficient or excessive. We show that this result depends on the relative contribution of population and human capital in the determination of long-term growth, i.e., on how the distortions affect the trade-off between the quantity of offsprings and the quality of the family members.     

中国人口老龄化冲击下出生率变动的经济效果

快速老龄化对我国经济产生广泛的影响,我国也先后实施"单独二孩"和"全面二孩"政策,以提高出生率来应对人口快速老龄化问题.然而,已有研究主要是基于过去人口变化的特征事实作出的,而我国在老龄化冲击下调整计划生育政策,将会改变人口原有的变化趋势,这是已有研究没有遇到过的新情况.本文以"全面二孩"政策的实施为契机,使用动态随机一般均衡模型(DSGE)分析了我国人口老龄化冲击下出生率变动的经济效果,研究发现提高出生率总体上有利于应对人口老龄化对经济的冲击,但也会付出物价上涨、经济波动增加及社会福利下降的代价.在以上结论基础上,本文做了进一步的探讨.     

Women, aging, and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder of unknown etiology that typically has an onset in early adulthood and persists for the remainder of the lifespan. For most affected individuals, the illness is recurrent with psychotic symptoms that tend to be episodic in nature. The illness has pervasive and disruptive effects on many life domains; for example, women with schizophrenia are less likely to marry, bear children, and raise their own children than are women in the general population. The age of onset of schizophrenia is later on average in women then men, and women are over-represented among those who develop the illness after the age of 45. Among younger patients with schizophrenia, women tend to have less severe symptoms than men and better outcomes; however, there are fewer gender differences among older patients with schizophrenia. Older women with schizophrenia are vulnerable to problems of both schizophrenia and aging. Schizophrenia symptoms typically continue in later years and include ongoing psychotic symptoms. Problems of aging such as cognitive decline and chronic medical conditions may be exacerbated by schizophrenia and the disorder is associated with premature mortality. Older women with schizophrenia are at risk for neglect of psychiatric and other health needs that are further compounded by limited social support and low socioeconomic status. More research and clinical attention is needed to the problems of older women with schizophrenia.     

Self-enforcing family rules,marriage and the (non)neutrality of public intervention

We demonstrate that the notion of a family ‘constitution’ (self-enforcing, renegotiation-proof norm) requiring adults to provide attention for their elderly parents carries over from a world where identical individuals reproduce asexually, to one where individuals differentiated by sex and preferences marry, have children and bargain over the allocation of domestic resources. In this heterogenous world, couples are sorted by their preferences. If a couple’s common preferences satisfy a certain condition, the couple have an interest in instilling those preferences into their children. Policies are generally nonneutral. In particular, wage redistribution may raise, and compulsory education will reduce, the share of the adult population that is governed by family constitutions, and thus the share of the elderly population who receive attention from their children.     

Women,Aging, and Schizophrenia

SUMMARY

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder of unknown etiology that typically has an onset in early adulthood and persists for the remainder of the life span. For most affected individuals, the illness is recurrent with psychotic symptoms that tend to be episodic in nature. The illness has pervasive and disruptive effects on many life domains; for example, women with schizophrenia are less likely to marry, bear children, and raise their own children than are women in the general population. The age of onset of schizophrenia is later on average in women than men, and women are overrepresented among those who develop the illness after the age of 45. Among younger patients with schizophrenia, women tend to have less severe symptoms than men and better outcomes; however, there are fewer gender differences among older patients with schizophrenia. Older women with schizophrenia are vulnerable to problems of both schizophrenia and aging. Schizophrenia symptoms typically continue in later years and include ongoing psychotic symptoms. Problems of aging such as cognitive decline and chronic medical conditions may be exacerbated by schizophrenia and the disorder is associated with premature mortality. Older women with schizophrenia are at risk for neglect of psychiatric and other health needs that are further compounded by limited social support and low socioeconomic status. More research and clinical attention is needed for the problems of older women with schizophrenia.     

Population aging, health care, and growth

This paper constructs a small open two-sector (health care and non-health care) overlapping generations model and investigates how changes in the demand for health care induced by population aging influence the economy’s employment structure and per capita income growth rate. We show that population aging induces a shift in labor from the non-health care sector to the health care sector and lowers the per capita income growth rate. This paper also investigates public policy for child care and demonstrates the existence of an intergenerational conflict between current and future generations concerning public policy on child care.     

Sources of Population Aging in More and Less Developed Countries

We provide the first global assessment of the sources of population aging by tracing its origins to the demographic histories of more and less developed countries. In more developed countries, improvements in survival among successive cohorts have accounted for the large majority of the recent increase in the population's mean age. Improved survivorship and declines in the growth rate of births have made roughly equal contributions to the aging that is occurring in less developed countries. Aging is more rapid in less developed countries because the number of births has declined faster, with China and India making large contributions. Use of the proportion of the population above age 65, 70, or 75 as measures of aging produces results similar to those using the mean age. Mortality decline becomes an even larger contributor to aging using all these measures, and its contribution grows as age advances.     

遗属养老保险制度的机制设计研究

女性老龄人口特别是丧偶者面临更高的老龄贫困风险,老龄化背景下如何向更具脆弱性的丧偶独居女性老龄人口提供老龄收入保障,帮助其实现反贫困的目标是各国公共政策制定者面临的一项长期重要的挑战。遗属养老金的受益作为派生养老金权益的重要内容有利于阻止贫困和平滑消费,是帮助丧偶独居女性老龄人口反贫困的重要手段,世界各国普遍将其纳入强制性社会保障体系。但遗属养老保险制度可能带来对女性就业参与的不当激励,不公平的社会再分配效应及养老金财务支出负担增加等不利经济影响。对世界上30个主要国家和地区遗属养老保险制度机制设计的比较研究表明有必要通过良好的遗属养老保险制度机制设计来实现其阻止贫困的重要作用,尽可能降低其可能的负面经济影响。本文建议主要包括:合理确定遗属养老金的受益水平以切实满足遗属的生活支出需要;严格限定被保险人需满足的养老金缴费条件;严格限定受益遗属需满足的受益条件;加强遗属养老保险与老龄养老保险制度的立法衔接等。当前我国遗属养老保险制度是明显缺失的,未来我国在建立遗属养老保险制度的过程中有必要借鉴国际经验,优化机制设计,在充分发挥遗属养老保险制度对于丧偶女性老龄人口反贫困作用的同时将其潜在的负面经济影响降至最低。     

中国人口转变、人口红利与经济增长的实证

我国人口年龄结构的变动使得劳动负担逐渐下降,这对于储蓄水平的上升和劳动力投入效率的提高具有显著的促进作用;我国劳动负担比与经济增长呈现出明显的负相关,劳动负担比每下降1个百分点,经济增长将提高1.06个百分点,在过去的30年里劳动负担降低累计带来的经济增长占总增长的27.23%。通过计量检验证明人口年龄结构变动所产生的促进经济增长的人口红利是存在的。由此我们推断,由于未来的人口年龄结构变动趋向人口老龄化,劳动负担逐步上升,这将会对未来的经济增长造成制约。利用未来10～20年时间较轻的劳动负担的机遇期,我们应当建立良好的教育、人力资本投资、社会保障等方面的制度以及制定积极的人口政策,调整当前生育政策、适时执行宏观经济政策(劳动就业政策)来应对已发生的、正在进行的人口变动,使我国的经济继续保持强有力的增长态势。     

人口流动对农村人口老龄化的影响研究——基于“五普”和“六普”数据分析

我国农村人口老龄化程度和提高的速度全面超越了城市,这与当前的人口城市化进程密切相关。人口流动的年龄选择性,使得农村流出人口平均年龄和老年人口比例都远低于农村人口整体水平。流动人口内部在不断地"更新",年轻的流动人口不断替代年老的流动人口,从而保持较年轻的年龄结构,这种人口流动的年龄选择性加速了农村人口老龄化。通过人口老龄化模型的进一步分析发现,在2000～2010年间,农村人口自然老化速度基本保持稳定。而随着农村流动人口的增加,其对农村人口老龄化速度的影响从2000～2005年间的0.031岁/年增加到2006～2010年间的0.07岁/年;农村流出人口对农村人口平均年龄增加的贡献也从8.04%上升到16.91%,人口流动已成为农村人口老龄化的重要推动力。从人口流动的角度,需要关注农村留守老人的照料问题,进一步完善农村社会保障体系以及解决如何让流动人口在城市沉淀下来等问题。     

Going solo: Findings from a survey of women aging without a partner and who do not have children

Greater longevity in the UK population has led to the increasing diversity of women experiencing aging in a multitude of ways. Internationally, gender inequalities in aging are still relatively invisible within both government policy and everyday life for particular groups of women. This article explores the concept of women growing older “solo”—by which we mean women who find themselves nonpartnered and aging without children as they move into later life. We report on the findings from a mixed-methods survey of 76 solo women in the UK aged 50 years and over, used to provide a broader overview of the issues and challenges they face as they move into later life. Qualitative data from the survey captured respondents’ perspectives about the links between their relationships status and well-being in later life and highlighted specific cumulative disadvantages emerging for some women as a result of their solo lifestyles. We discuss two key themes that were identified, “solo-loneliness” and “meaningful futures,” in conjunction with the relevant literature and make suggestions for future research within gender and aging studies that could enhance more positive approaches to solo lifestyles.     

Aging,Proximity to Death,and Religiosity

Considerable evidence has documented that the elderly are more religious and that religiosity is associated with better health and lower mortality. Yet, little is known about the reverse role of life expectancy or proximity to death, as opposed to age, for religiosity. This paper provides evidence for the distinct role of expected remaining life years for the importance of religion in individuals’ lives. We combine individual survey response data for more than 300,000 individuals from 95 countries over the period 1994–2014 with information from period life tables. Contrary to wide-held beliefs, religiosity decreases with greater expected proximity to death. The findings have important implications regarding the consequences of population aging for religiosity and associated outcomes.     

Population aging, health care, and growth: a comment on the effects of capital accumulation

In a recent paper, Hashimoto and Tabata (J Popul Econ 23:571–593, 2010) present a theoretical model in which the increase in the rate of dependence due to aging of the population leads to a reallocation of labor from non-health to health production and, as a consequence, to a decline in economic growth. We argue that these results rely heavily on assumptions of a “small economy” and perfect capital mobility, which tie down the amount of capital. In this paper, we proceed by analyzing the case of an economy in which the availability of capital is endogenously determined by domestic savings. We find that the new “capital accumulation effect” is opposite to the previous “dependency rate effect,” leaving the effect on economic growth ambiguous. In particular, if the former prevailed, population aging would foster economic growth, a result that finds support in recent empirical work.     

关于应对人口老龄化危机的经济学思考

从经济学的角度来说 ,应对人口老龄化危机 ,我们不能仅仅在收入的分配和再分配环节上做文章 ,个人账户制度也并非应对人口老龄化危机的良方。政府和社会在通过个人账户制度将人口老龄化风险转移给个人的同时 ,又使自己陷入了另一种风险之中。真正应对的办法只能是努力把生产这块“蛋糕”做大 ,相应的措施即为社会保障基金入市和提高退休年龄     

人口流动、老龄化对农村居民消费的影响

利用中国1%人口抽样调查和人口普查的省域数据,从四个截面考察人口外流、农村人口老龄化对农村居民消费的影响,研究结果发现,农村人口老龄化对农村居民消费倾向具有显著的正向影响,农村老年人口的生活来源与健康状况是其中的影响因素;人口流动通过直接与间接效应对农村居民消费也表现出显著的正向影响。人口外流与老龄化均不同程度刺激、助长了农村居民消费。完善农村的社会养老及医疗保障体系、适度发展老年产业、规范和鼓励农村人口流动为现时期应对农村人口老龄化和促进农村居民消费提供了重要切入点。     

Minister Wang Wei on family planning policy and population aging

Mr. Wang Wei, Minister-in-Charge of the State Family Planning Commission, was interviewed by the correspondent of the magazine "Outlook Weekly" on the 16th of last July in Beijing. Mr. Wang Wei said that the aging process of China's population could not be separated from the family planning program which was an important factor leading to China's population aging. He also said that population aging in China would have its limit as any development does. The aging of China's population is the manifestation of the contradiction between the unplanned and planned reproduction of its population. Population aging will disappear as soon as the contradiction is settled. Since the aging of China's population is caused by the decrease of children, one cannot only see the social burden aggravated by the relative increase in elderly population but should also see the social burden alleviated by the decrease in the absolute number of children. Only by doing so can one see the whole picture. The allegation made by some people that the social dependency ratio would increase due to population aging is groundless. Mr. Wang Wei does not agree with the viewpoint that China may relax its policy of family planning to some extent on the ground that population aging causes the decrease in the total social dependency ratio so as to ease the difficulties brought about by the rapid population aging. The basic state policy of striving to quadruple the gross output value of industry and agriculture and to control China's population at about 1.2 billion at the end of the century is the correct policy to solve the problem of population aging in China, and it is also the only alternative.     

Population aging and environmental quality in OECD countries: evidence from sulfur dioxide emissions data

Recent literature has suggested that population aging may shape energy demand and related emissions. Recent scholarship also suggests that emissions play a role in contemporary climate change and, as such, understanding the effect of population compositional change has considerable environmental policy importance. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the macro-level relationship between population aging and emissions of sulfur dioxide. We extend a standard macroeconomic estimation function by including the age composition of the population. In doing so, we separate, for the first time in the literature on aging and the environment, the life-cycle dimension of the age structure from its cohort dimension. We utilize data representing a balanced panel of 25 OECD countries during the period from 1970 to 2000. Consistent with our expectations, we find that societies with a low proportion of young and a high proportion of senior citizens emit more sulfur dioxide. At the same time, our results suggest that a high proportion of individuals born before 1960 is positively correlated to national sulfur dioxide emissions. Our study contributes to understanding of past emission patterns in OECD countries and the findings may allow for improvements in future emission projections.     

A comment on total fertility]

Total fertility rate (TFR) cannot be interpreted as the average number of children a couple will have, as the TFR is influenced by a number of factors. The most important factor is the fertility rate of each individual age group. A decline in these rates brings about a decline in the TFR, but other elements also play a part. Another important factor is the age at which women are getting married. The natural childbearing years run for 35 years, from age 15 through 49, but if women are not permitted to marry before age 23, this period will be reduced to 27 years, which would in turn lower the TFR. The number of children each couple is permitted to bear also has an influence on the TFR; the lower the number of children permitted, the lower the TFR. Another factor which affects the TFR is the number of women who, by law, cannot bear any more children. On a long-term basis, it does not appear that the TFR will drop to 1 by the end of this century; it will fall somewhere between 1 and 2. If it is maintained below 1.5-1.6 after 1985, and continues to gradually decline, China's population will be approximately 12 billion at the end of the 20th/Century, and the aging of the population will not become a serious problem.     

On the dynamics of the age structure,dependency, and consumption

We examine the effects of population aging due to declining fertility and rising elderly life expectancy on consumption possibilities in the presence of intergenerational transfers. Our analysis is based on a highly tractable continuous-time overlapping generations model in which the population is divided into three groups (youth dependents, workers, and elderly dependents) and lifecourse transitions take place in a probabilistic fashion. We show that the consumption-maximizing response to greater longevity in highly developed countries is an increase in fertility. However, with larger transfer payments, the actual fertility response will likely be the opposite, leading to further population aging.     

人口老龄化的认知和应对：积极的与消极的

正确认知和积极应对老龄化是老龄事业健康发展的前提。在＂消极论＂看来,＂老龄化即是衰亡＂,须提高出生率和＂社会化养老＂以应对。积极的认知是：老龄化负荷着积极的价值而非＂衰亡＂,人口数量过多是＂心膂之忧＂,控制人口对合理年龄结构具优先性;提高出生率无异于＂饮鸩止渴＂,＂社会化养老＂则是一个模糊而不宜使用的概念。积极的应对之策是,发展＂家庭养老＂和＂社区服务＂,在政府负责、主导下,建立＂三结合＂的赡养体系和服务体系,＂给岁月以生命＂并坚持＂节制生育＂。