Birth rates are dropping to ever-lower levels around the world. Populations are growing more slowly and, in some cases, beginning to decline. Rapid population aging has begun in the West and parts of Asia and is just over the horizon elsewhere. The demographic changes, their economic implications, and possible policy responses are the subject matter of this volume. What will be the effects on economic performance? How can couples be encouraged to marry and have children? Can educational reform lead to a more productive young labor force helping to offset their meager numbers? Can labor market reform extend the work life of older workers without damaging the interests of others? How should the social safety net that supports the elderly evolve in ways that are both fair and sustainable? The papers in this volume draw on international experience to address these issues, but emphasize the experience of Japan the country with the world's oldest population. It includes contributors such as: Noriko Aoki, Akira Kawaguchi, Allen Kelley, Wei Huang, Robert Hutchens, Tomoko Kinugasa, Andrew Mason, Naoki Mitani, Takashi Oshio, Robert Schmidt, and Mitoshi Yamaguchi.

This unique book contains novel and in-depth research regarding economic development in Japan. The authors examine economic development in Japan from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Using general equilibrium growth accounting and the overlapping generations model, they analyze the relationships between population, agriculture and the economy. The research results are unprecedented and show the effects of increased adult longevity on national savings and the effects of demographic change on the industrial structure; the push-pull effects of technical change in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the positive effects of population on technical change and economic development.