Nearly one in ten people in the world is now aged 65 and over. This project theorises and explores the political consequences of ageing for economic performance. As countries age, the political priorities of a growing share of the electorate shift, and elected governments are increasingly forced to prioritise certain policies at the expense of others, which in turn negatively affects economic growth. Quantitative methods on a wide range of datasets provides evidence for the political economy consequences of ageing.
First, I demonstrate the different policy preferences, economic priorities, and voting behaviour of elderly voters using several cross-national surveys. Second, I show that ageing changes government policy allocation across various domains, notably prioritising pensions instead of investments. Third, I argue that ageing has as a result undermined economic performance.
The findings of the project are forthcoming in the World Politics journal and Oxford University Press.
Kings College Business School, University of York, University of Antwerp, University of Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics, Conference of the Council of European Studies, IAST-OxPo Conference, Universite de Montreal, Duke University, Harvard University, European University Institute, Stockholm University, European Consortium of Political Research, Max Planck Online Workshop in Comparative Political Economy.
