89Finnish Yearbook of Population Research XLVII 2012, pp. 89–112 Ageing and Economic Performance: Dilemmas and Dichotomies

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