Announcement of a workshop and special issue on "Inequality & Ageing", 

as part of the “Next World Program” and “INEPA”              

University of Hohenheim, Germany, 

4-5 May, 2018

 

Provisional programme (pdf)

 

 

• Organizing Committee: 

David E. Bloom, Harvard School of Public Health, USA

David Canning, Harvard School of Public Health, USA

Karen Eggleston, Stanford University, USA

Wang Feng, Fudan University, China

Hans Groth, WDA Forum, Switzerland

Klaus Prettner, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Alfonso Sousa-Poza, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Thomas Zeltner, Special Envoy, WHO, Switzerland

• Local Organizing Committee:

Vadim Kufenko, INEPA, email: vadim.kufenko@uni-hohenheim.de 

Katerina Potapova, Research Center for Health Sciences, email: fzg@uni-hohenheim.de 

Klaus Prettner, email: klaus.prettner@uni-hohenheim.de 

Alfonso Sousa-Poza, email: alfonso.sousa-poza@uni-hohenheim.de 

• With support from: 

        

 

• Topic

One of the challenges faced by ageing societies is maintaining a workforce large enough to supply the goods and services needed by a country's entire population. In the coming decades, industrialized countries will experience a steep increase in the share of elderly persons in the population and a fall in the share of the working-age population. In some countries, the number of people aged 60-64 (many of whom are about to retire) already exceeds the number of people aged 15-19 (the cohort soon entering the labour market). There will, however, be mitigating factors that will tend to decrease the effects of declines in the working-age share of the population: (a) the burden of caring for a high number of elderly people will be offset by there being fewer children to support, (b) the proportion of adult women who work will rise when there are fewer children to take care of, and (c) automation will take care of more and more of the tasks for which particularly unskilled workers were needed in the past. Still, if there is no change in work and retirement patterns, the ratio of older inactive persons per worker will almost double from around 38% in the OECD area in 2000 to just over 70% in 2050 (OECD, "Live Longer, Work Longer", 2006). In Europe, this ratio could rise to almost one older inactive person for every worker over the same period.

These developments could have a strong effect on several domains of society such as migration, labor market outcomes, education, social security, and economic growth. In particular, such demographic developments could also have a strong influence on inequality. While life expectancy and income have seen substantial increases over the last century on average, the focus on averages detracts from inequalities, particularly at old age (e.g. inequalities in remaining life expectancy and in retirement wealth). These inequalities arise due to health and earnings differences over the life cycle, which themselves depend on the family background, childhood health, educational attainment, occupational choices, and employment histories of individuals. The realized impact of these factors on inequality depends, of course, on the particular social and institutional context, for example, the design of social security systems and the organization of health care. This implies that economic and social policy has a large potential to influence inequality. A central task is to identify policies that, at the same time, help to cope with the demographic challenges, mitigate the increase in inequality, and guarantee the high level of living standards that we have achieved so far.

The objective of this workshop is to discuss the following topics:

·         Population dynamics and income distribution

·         The evolution of inequality over time and with respect to age

·         Health inequality in old age

·         The effects of social security systems and pension schemes on inequality

·      Policies to cope with demographic challenges and the challenges posed by inequality

·         Family backgrounds and equality of opportunities

·         Demographically induced poverty traps

·         Effects of automation and the digital economy in ageing societies

·         Flexible working time and careers, and their long-term implications

·       The dynamics of inheritances

·         etc.

 

• Date and venue

The workshop will take place from May 4, 2018 to May 5, 2018 at the University of Hohenheim. In the campus map www.uni-hohenheim.de/fileadmin/einrichtungen/growth/campus_INEPA.pdf the venue is marked by a red circle.

• Submission for the workshop 

Interested authors are invited to submit a 1-page abstract by the 30th of September 2017 to Klaus Prettner (klaus.prettner@uni-hohenheim.de) and Alfonso Sousa-Poza (alfonso.sousa-poza@uni-hohenheim.de). The authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by the end of October and completed draft papers will then be expected by the 31st of January 2018. 

Economy-class travel and accommodation costs for one author of each accepted paper will be covered by the organisers.

A selection of the papers presented at the workshop will (assuming successful completion of the review process) be published in a special issue of the Journal of the Economics of Ageing. All papers presented at the workshop are expected to be submitted to the special issue.

• Best paper award for young scientists

The best paper submitted and presented by an author below the age of 35 will receive a best paper award of 750 Euros and the paper will be made available online as a working paper of the INEPA research focus. If a co-author of the paper does not fulfil the age requirement, then the nominee for the prize must at least be the lead author. Please indicate in your submission whether you want to be considered for the award and state the date of birth of the authors of the submitted paper.

• Submission for the special issue

Interested authors (also those not attending the workshop) are invited to submit papers for the special issue in the Journal of the Economics of Ageing by the 31st of May 2018. Submissions should be made online. Please select article type “SI Inequality & Ageing” in the submission system of the journal.

• About the New World Program

The Next World Program is a joint initiative of Harvard University’s Program on the Global Demography of Aging, the WDA Forum, Stanford University’s AHPP, Fudan University’s Comparative Aging Societies, and the University of Hohenheim. These institutions organize an annual workshop and a special issue in the Journal of the Economics of Ageing on an important economic theme related to ageing societies. 

• About the research area “Inequality and Economic Policy Analysis (INEPA)” and the Hohenheim Research Center for Health Sciences

The research focus “Inequality and Economic Policy Analysis (INEPA)” is an initiative of the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences at the University of Hohenheim to connect researchers with of various fields and diverse backgrounds to conduct cutting edge research on the causes and consequences of inequality and on potential policy measures to mitigate the negative effects of inequality. Within this framework the University offers a Master’s Program on the Economics of Inequality, and publishes an inequality-related discussion paper series.

The Hohenheim Research Center for Health Sciences provides a dynamic platform for researchers, lecturers, young scientists and students dedicated to life sciences and societal health topics, and promotes high-level research across disciplines.

 

 

• Download call for papers (pdf)