Ageing and Economic Performance: Dilemmas and Dichotomies

The process of ageing is not a new phenomenon. What implications ageing will haveon economic performance are unclear both in terms of magnitude and direction.Notwithstanding this however much that passes for research into the effects ofdemographic change is often highly partial and generally short-sighted oftenculminating in alarmist conclusions and providing a clarion call for significantpolicy changes based, ultimately, on rather thin scientific justification.The aim of this paper is to discuss the methodological and theoretical dilemmasand dichotomies concerning the interrelationship between ageing and economicperformance. There is actually little evidence that demographic changes per se willcause changes in the economic performance. By considering demography as destinyor the determinant for economic development, an artificial dichotomy is created.Furthermore, the spatial aspects are in general left outside the analysis. Ageing anddepopulation are not national problems, but local and in some cases regional