Government Spending on the Elderly

This book examines the many economic and budgetary aspects of aging, and of an aging population, exploring the welfare state and incentives to retire, the macroeconomic and fiscal implications of aging and the long-run effects of government spending on the elderly

This book examines the many economic and budgetary aspects of aging, and of an aging population, exploring the welfare state and incentives to retire, the macroeconomic and fiscal implications of aging and the long-run effects of government spending on the elderly. There is also an examination of the changing patterns of retirement behaviour, economic well-being and gender disparities among the elderly, the interaction between private and public provisioning, and aspects of retirement security.

DIMITRI B. PAPADIMITRIOU is Jerome Levy Professor of Economics and Executive Vice President of Bard College, and President of The Levy Economics Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA. He was Vice-Chairman of the Trade Deficit Review Commission of the US Congress and has testified in the US Senate and Congressional Committee Hearings on Banking and Finance and Small Business. He is a member of the editorial board of Challenge. He is author and editor of the Levy Economics Institute Series, editor of Profits, Deficits and Instability, Aspects of Distribution of Wealth and Income, Stability in the Financial System, Modernizing Financial Systems, and Induced Investment and Business Cycles, and has authored many articles to professional journals.

Economic and Budgetary Aspects of Aging: An Overview–D.B.Papadimitriou * PART I: Welfare State and the Incentives to Retire * The Generosity of the Welfare State Towards the Elderly–A.Boersch-Supan * Comments–S.Cesaratto * Retirement Incentives Across Countries: A Macroeconomic Study–R.Duval * Comments–R.Startz * PART II: Budgetary and Macroeconomic Implications of Aging * Long-Run Fiscal Implications of the Aging Population Using Probabilistic Forecasts–S.Tuljapurkar * Comments–C.Burdick * Long-Run Macroeconomic Implications of Government Spending on the Elderly–J.Gokhale * Comments–L.Randall Wray * PART III: Changing Patterns of Retirement Behavior * Understanding the Individual and Budgetary Consequences of Delaying Retirement by One Year–K.Smith, B.Butrica & E.Steuerle * Comments–L.G.Schmidt * Retirement Behaviour and Wealth–M.Hurd * Comments–D.L.Thornton * PART IV: Aspects of Economic Well-Being and Gender Disparities Among the Elderly * Government Spending on the Elderly and Distribution of Economic Well-Being–E.Wolff, A.Zacharias & H.Kum * Comments–R.Haveman * Gender Disparities in Economic Security During Old Age–L.Shaw * Comments–M.H.Mayer * PART V: Interaction between Private and Public Provisioning * Employer Reliability of Retirement Systems–T.Ghilarducci * Comments–Z.Bodie * Public/Private Provisioning of Retiree Health Benefits–S.Woodbury * Comments–B.Wolfe * PART VI: Retirement Security: Problems and Prospects * Retirement Security for the 47-64 Age Group–E.Wolff * Comments–B.Harrington * Social Security and Redistribution–M.Favreault * Comments–R.K.Triest