Population Ageing, Pensions And Growth

‘This is a useful book that presents a number of important ideas and results. Creedy and Guest’s discussion of the assumptions and value choices required in these models is thoughtful and interesting. Their overall conclusion that population ageing is unlikely to significantly reduce living standards is important for policymakers and the general public, many of whom are still under the sway of “crisis” rhetoric. . . this will likely be a valuable book for economists or economic policy researchers interested in the macroeconomic implications of population ageing. The careful discussion of the models involved will be useful for both graduate students and experienced researchers in this field.’
– Martin Cooke, Canadian Studies in Population

This highly topical book explores key issues in evaluating the long-run implications of population ageing for pensions, taxation, intergenerational equity and social welfare.

Societies face long-term phenomena, such as demographic change and climate change that impose costs and benefits far into the future. These present challenges for policymakers in planning intertemporal consumption paths that balance the goals of efficiency and equity. An exploration of these issues, with respect to population ageing in particular, is the primary motivation for this book. John Creedy and Ross Guest evaluate these problems with a particular focus on the role of concepts, assumptions and value judgements.

This book will be a fascinating read for researchers interested in the social evaluation of population ageing and climate change. Public policy makers and advisers will find the analysis of practical policy questions such as alternative regimes for taxing public pensions of special interest. Graduate students of macroeconomics and public economics will also find helpful discussions of social discounting, the efficiency and equity effects of tax smoothing, and potential new effects of population ageing on labour productivity.