In nearly every industrialized country, large aging populations and increased life expectancy have placed enormous pressure on social security programs--and, until recently, the pressure has been compounded by a trend toward retirement at an earlier age. With a larger fraction of the population receiving benefits, in coming decades social security in many countries may have to be reformed in order to remain financially viable.
This volume offers a cross-country analysis of the effects of disability insurance programs on labor force participation by older workers. Drawing on measures of health that are comparable across countries, the authors explore the extent to which differences in the labor force are determined by disability insurance programs and to what extent disability insurance reforms are prompted by the circumstances of a country's elderly population.

This volume, the fourth to result from a remarkably productive collaboration between the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, presents a selection of thirteen high-caliber papers addressing issues in the employment practices, labor markets, and health, benefit, and pension policies of the United States and Japan.
After an opening chapter assessing the recent ascendance of the U.S. economy, papers diverge to tackle a range of specific issues. Focusing less on international comparison than on the assembly of high-quality research, contributors hone in on a variety of individual topics. Chapters delve into issues of youth employment, participatory employment, information sharing, fringe benefits, and drug coverage in Japan, as well as the dynamics of medical savings accounts, private insurance coverage, and benefit options in the U.S.
Like previous volumes stemming from NBER/JCER collaboration, this book represents a valuable mass of empirical data on some of the most notable employment and benefits issues in each nation, information that will both anchor and provoke scholarly analysis of these topics well into the future.

The future of retirement programs is troubled, both in the United States and in most other developed countries with aging populations. As improvements in health care and changes in lifestyles enable retirees to live longer than ever before, the stress on national budgets will increase substantially. In "Social Security Programs and Retirement" around the World, Jonathan Gruber, David A. Wise, and experts in many countries examine the consequences of reforming retirement benefits in a dozen nations. Drawing on the work of an international group of noted economists, the editors argue that social security programs provide strong incentives for workers to leave the labor force by retiring and taking the benefits to which they are entitled. By penalizing work, social security systems magnify the increased financial burden caused by aging populations, thus contributing to the insolvency of the system. This book is a model of comparative analysis that evaluates the effects of illustrative policies for countries facing the impending rapid growth of social security benefits. Its insights will help inform this most pressing debate.

"Analyses in the Economics of Aging" presents a massive amount of new research on several popular and less-examined topics pertaining to the economic aspects of aging. Among the many themes explored in this volume, considerable attention is given to new research on retirement savings, the cost and efficiency of medical resources, and the predictors of health events.
The volume begins with a discussion of the risks and merits of personal retirement saving plans and how default contributions to such plans-401(k) plans in particular-might be determined. Subsequent chapters present recent analysis of the growth of Medicare costs, some of which is attributed to inefficiencies in the system; the efficiency of health care services in the United States; the different aspects of disability; and the joint evolution of health, wealth, and living arrangements over the life cycle. Keeping with the global tradition of previous volumes, "Analyses in the Economics of Aging" also includes comparative studies on savings behavior in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States; an examination of household savings among different age groups in Germany; and a chapter devoted to population aging and the plight of widows in India.
Carefully compiled and containing some of the most cutting-edge research and analysis available, this volume should be of interest to any specialist or policymaker concerned with ongoing changes in savings and retirement behaviors.

"Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World" represents the second stage of an ongoing research project studying the relationship between social security and labor. In the first volume, Jonathan Gruber and David A. Wise revealed enormous disincentives to continued work at older ages in developed countries. Provisions of many social security programs typically encourage retirement by reducing pay for work, inducing older employees to leave the labor force early and magnifying the financial burden caused by an aging population. At a certain age there is simply no financial benefit to continuing to work.
In this volume, the authors turn to a country-by-country analysis of retirement behavior based on micro-data. The result of research compiled by teams in twelve countries, the volume shows an almost uniform correlation between levels of social security incentives and retirement behavior in each country. The estimates also show that the effect is strikingly uniform in countries with very different cultural histories, labor market institutions, and other social characteristics.

The population base in both the United States and Japan is growing older and, as those populations age, they provoke heretofore unexamined economic consequences. This cutting-edge, comparative volume, the third in the joint series offered by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, explores those consequences, drawing specific attention to four key areas: incentives for early retirement; savings, wealth, and asset allocation over the life cycle; health care and health care reform; and population projections.
Given the undeniable global importance of the Japanese and U.S. economies, these innovative essays shed welcome new light on the complex correlations between aging and economic behavior. This insightful work not only deepens our understanding of the Japanese and American economic landscapes but also, through careful examination of the comparative social and economic data, clarifies the complex relation between aging societies, public policies, and economic outcomes.

For over a decade, the National Bureau of Economic Research has sponsored the Economics of Aging Program, under the direction of David A. Wise. The program addresses issues that affect the well-being of individuals as they age and a society that is composed increasingly of older people.

Within the next twenty years, an unprecedented proportion of Americans will be over sixty-five. New research in the economics of aging is an essential element of understanding what the future holds for this aging population. Inquiries in the Economics of Aging presents both empirical papers that consider questions that are fundamental to public policy and more theoretical contributions that lay new ground-work for future research in the economics of aging.

Two essays investigate health insurance and the increasing cost of health care. The first considers the feasibility of medical savings accounts as a means of controlling health care costs; the second examines the sources of health care expenditure growth, emphasizing the significance of changes in medical technology. Three papers concentrate on retirement and caring for the elderly. One concludes that retirement saving is indeed used for retirement, another asks whether the availability of Medicare insurance influences the timing of retirement, and the third studies the economic role that adult children play in caring for elderly parents. Of the five theoretical works in the book, three discuss methodological problems related to mortality and mortality rates, and two address difficulties and new opportunities for measuring wealth and poverty among the elderly.

Inquiries in the Economics of Aging provides a timely overview of some of the mostimportant questions facing researchers on aging and outlines new techniques and models that may help to answer these questions. This important volume will be of great interest to specialists and policy makers as it paves the way for future analysis.

Studies in the Economics of Aging is the fourth book in a series from the National Bureau of Economic Research that addresses economic issues of aging and retirement. Building on the research in The Economics of Aging (1989), Issues in the Economics of Aging (1990), and Topics in the Economics of Aging (1992), this volume examines issues related to population aging and the health and well-being of the elderly. Chapters cover population aging and government spending, life expectancy and health, saving for retirement and the role of 401(k) plans, demographic transition and housing values, aging in Germany and Taiwan, and the utilization of nursing homes and other long-term care. Economists, policymakers, and professionals in gerontology will find this book a useful reference for understanding the demographic and economic trends that affect the elderly.

One of the most well-established relationships in the economics of aging is that between health and wealth. Yet this relationship is also changing in conjunction with a rapidly aging population as well as a broad evolution in how people live later in life.
Building on findings from earlier editions in this National Bureau of Economic Research series, "Investigations in the Economics of Aging" focuses on the changing financial circumstances of the elderly and the relationship of these circumstances to health and health care. Among the topics addressed are the significance of out-of-pocket health care costs, the effects of inflation on social security, and the impact of the recent financial crisis on Americans' well-being. Encompassing new data and advances in research methodology, the developments presented in this volume will have important implications for economies worldwide.

The next two decades will mark a new phase in the demographic transition of the United States as baby boomers become eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Drawing on evidence from the United States and other nations, "Explorations in the Economics of Aging" yields important new findings on how economic decisions by households and policy choices by governments will influence the effects of this demographic shift. It explores topics such as the implications of differential mortality rates by income on Social Security, the link between cognition and economic outcomes, and scale variations in self-reported work disability. This volume will be an important reference for economists and policymakers alike.

In the past few years, the economic ramifications of aging have garnered close attention from a group of NBER researchers led by David A. Wise. In this volume, Wise and his collaborators continue to analyze a nexus of age-related issues.
This volume begins by looking at the implications of private and public personal retirement plans, focusing in particular on the impact of 401(k) programs on retirement strategies in light of potential social security reform and factors such as annuitization and on asset accumulation. Next, the often-observed relationship between health and wealth is dissected from two different perspectives and correlated with striking increases in health-care spending over the past two decades, despite the improved health of older populations. The volume concludes with an investigation of the retirement effects of various social security provisions in both U.S. and German systems.
This carefully developed collection expands the current investigative focus and broadens the dialogue on a rapidly growing area of social and economic concern.

"Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation" represents the second stage of an ongoing research project studying the relationship between social security and labor supply. In the first volume, Jonathan Gruber and David A. Wise revealed enormous disincentives to continued work at older ages in developed countries. Provisions in many social security programs were shown to encourage retirement by reducing total compensation for work, thereby inducing older employees to leave the labor force early, magnifying the financial burden caused by population aging. At a certain age there simply is little financial benefit to continued work in many countries.
In this volume, Jonathan Gruber and David A. Wise turn to a country-by-country analysis of retirement behavior based on micro-data. The result of research compiled by teams in twelve countries, the papers in this volume show a strong relationship between levels of social security incentives and retirement behavior in each country. Further, the estimates show that the effect is strikingly uniform in countries with very different cultural histories, labor market institutions, and other social characteristics.
The key advantage of the micro-estimation approach of this volume is that in each country the effects on retirement of changes in social security provisions can be predicted. To demonstrate the effects of such changes, each of the papers here includes simulations of the effects of two illustrative reforms. One illustrative reform delays the benefit eligibility ages in each of the countries. A second illustrative reform assumes common provisions in each of the countries-reducing retirement incentives insome countries and increasing incentives in others.
Utilizing the best methods, the conclusions to be drawn from "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation" will provide economists with the freshest and most provoking research yet in the ongoing debate regarding social security.

Japanese and American economists assess the present economic status of the elderly in the United States and Japan, and consider the impact of an aging population on the economies of the two countries. With essays on labor force participation and retirement, housing equity and the economic status of the elderly, budget implications of an aging population, and financing social security and health care in the 1990s, this volume covers a broad spectrum of issues related to the economics of aging. Among the book's findings are that workers are retiring at an increasingly earlier age in both countries. In addition, as the populations age, baby boomers in the United States will face diminishing financial resources as the ratio of retirees to workers sharply increases. The result of a joint venture between the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, this book complements Housing Markets in the United States and Japan (1994) by integrating research on housing markets with economic issues of the aged in the United States and Japan.