Growth Effects of Age-related Productivity Differentials in an Ageing Society: A Simulation Study for Austria

Abstract: We integrate age specific productivity differentials into a long-run neoclassical growth model for the Austrian economy with a highly disaggregated labor supply structure. We assume two life time productivity profiles reflecting either small or large hump-shaped productivity differentials and compute an average labor productivity index using three different aggregation functions: linear, Cobb-Douglas, and a nested Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES). Model simulations with age specific productivity differentials are compared to a base scenario with uniform productivity over age groups. Depending on the aggregation function, the simulation results show only negligible or small negative effects on output and other macroeconomic key variables.