Population Aging and the Generational Economy

Faculty

OGAWA, Naohiro

Credit / Semester / Schedule / Language

2 Credits / Winter / Tuesday Period: 4 / English

Objectives/Overview

Population explosion was the central demographic problem of the 20th century, but population aging is likely to take that spot in the 21st century. In the first half of this course, we shall examine causes and consequences of fertility declines and mortality improvements that have occurred in the past 20 to 30 years by focusing primarily on socio-economic changes. In doing so we shall cover not only Japan but also other various countries, both developed and developing. In the second half of the course we shall quantitatively assess the macroeconomic impact of age structural changes induced by fertility and mortality transformations and also examine their micro-level influence on family finances. The method employed will be the National Transfer Accounts (NTA), which have recently been introduced in 40 countries of the world. These analyses will be conducted from the standpoint of formulating and implementing policies and will not rely solely on the results for Japan, but for other countries participating in the global NTA project as well.

Keywords

Labor income, public/private consumption, human capital, intergenerational and intragenerational transfers, English

Teaching Methods

For each topic, an introductory lecture will be delivered by the instructor, followed by power-point presentations by students and/or group discussions.

Grading

(Depending upon the number of students enrolled in the class) presentations, written assignments or an exam.

Reference Books

Reading assignments will be given when necessary.