Two features of recent economic experience have been the transition to post Fordism and the ageing of populations. Post-Fordism entails diverse production and consumption, flexible employment, privatisation and a smaller welfare state. Population ageing is predicted to cause financial problems...

Population ageing has often been summarised through rising old-age dependence ratios. Age is therefore perceived as a source of dependence, which supposedly causes economic problems. While these perceptions seem intuitive, they are open to query and may be misleading. The current chapter looks...

Ageing populations in developed countries have placed increasing demands on health care services and drawn attention to how age is related to medical expenditure. The effect of ageing on health involves a mixture of biological and social factors that ideally requires an interdisciplinary...

Population ageing is often thought to have adverse economic consequences, and economics therefore has a responsibility for contributing to an understanding of ageing. This paper discusses the treatment of population ageing in economic theory and argues that mainstream economics is too narrow and...