Mortality Decline and Aggregate Wealth Accumulation

The paper discusses the impact of longevity extension on aggregate wealth accumulation, accounting for changes in individual behaviors as well as changes in population age structure. It departs from the standard literature by adopting a formulation of individual preferences that accounts for temporal risk aversion. Human impatience is then closely related to mortality rates and aggregate wealth accumulation appears to be much more sensitive to demographic factors than with the traditional approach. Illustrations are provided using historical mortality data from different countries.