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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the latest findings on the economic potential of ageing and compare them primarily from a consumables perspective. The relevant question relating to this research was: What are the economic consequences of the demographic development in relation to consumer demand for products and services in old age?

Narrative systematic publications were thoroughly reviewed and collated. A systematic search was carried out in journals, books, databases, the internet as well as within the scientific community from November 2012 to May 2013.

A total of 115 relevant scientific publications were identified in this review (from 1964 to 2013). In order to gain an actual overview of the relevant literature, the results show the most recent publications from 2000 to 2013.

There are three limitations within this paper: First, the search process used only four databases. Second, this review only took into account publications in English and German. Therefore, the review may fail to encompass all published literature. Finally, this study did not endeavour to evaluate the methodological quality of each scientific publication. Study findings were taken as reported.

This paper aims at analysing the economic potentials of ageing primarily from the perspective of consumption. The focus of this economics of ageing investigation is on the “demography-related” consequences in terms of the demand behaviour of the older consumers (the elderly as potential buyers). The paper deals with all the “silver economy” as a cross-sector campaign and research area for economics of ageing – a still fairly young discipline, both in science and in practical applications.

Population ageing has been seen as creating economic problems, which are often described as a worsening intergenerational conflict for resources. A rising demographic dependency ratio is said to increase the “burden” on the working population, by forcing sacrifices in their consumption. Such apparently intuitive ideas are based on the assumption of a binding aggregate resource constraint, as would occur if resources were fully utilized. From a post‐Keynesian perspective, however, unemployment and excess capacity are normal to the functioning of capitalist economies, and resources are not in general fully utilized. Argues that the Keynesian process of national income determination precludes any immediate relationship between population ageing and the “burden” imposed on income recipients. Below full employment, a rising dependency ratio is not guaranteed to reduce the expenditure share of income recipients or raise their tax rates. An exclusive emphasis on intergenerational conflict can give a misleading impression of the consequences of population ageing.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the evolution of consumption patterns associated with ageing on the relative importance of industries in Portugal, quantifying the changes in production, value added, imported intermediate inputs and employment.

This paper uses data from the Family Spending Survey to disaggregate the household column of the Portuguese input‐output table in different age groups, projecting their consumption, using the latest demographic projections made by Statistics Portugal (INE).

The study identifies the industries that are likely to be stimulated by the ageing of the Portuguese populations, as well as the industries that will most likely become disadvantaged by the process.

The task of identification of growing and declining industries due to ageing is important to help the design of employment, environmental and social policies.

The contemporary demographic trends in Western societies have added to the importance of studying the economic and social consequences of ageing. The main issues have been the labour market effects, the sustainability of social security systems and long‐term care. In this paper, we address a different research topic, quantifying the sectoral impact of the evolution of consumption patterns associated with ageing. This can be useful in addressing the structural challenges of the rapid ageing of the population, common to most of the developed economies.

There has been a growing interest amongst academics, researchers employers and governments/policymakers on ageing workplaces and workforces. As populations age and pension ages rise, older workers are finding themselves having to delay or postpone their retirement and organisations are looking for ways to enable them to do so in sustainable work. Workplace ageing is impacting both European and Asian societies and governments and employers are taking nationally specific approaches to age-related human resource management, social and public policies. In Europe, national governments are being led by the European Union in developing social and public policies to support older workers in maintaining employment through lifelong learning, flexible working, health management and job rotation. Tiger economies have focused on the ‘working pensioner’ pension rules which enable older workers to phase into retirement. China is facing rapid ageing but still maintains early retirement as a way to help older workers move out of physically and mentally demanding work. In addition to providing an outline for the remainder of the book, we also present a survey of older employees undertaken in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong which explores experiences in work, workplace relationships, skills and retirement plans. The survey is used as a common resource for the remaining chapters.

Population ageing will bring economic challenges in the future. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether increased educational level could mitigate the consequences of population ageing on economic sustainability, measured as the gap between labour income and consumption.

Using the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) methodology, the authors decompose labour income and consumption by age and educational level (low, medium and high) and compare obtained age profiles with those calculated conventionally. In addition, using the population projections by age and educational level, the authors project both profiles to 2060 for selected EU countries and assess future economic sustainability.

The results show that the highly educated have a significantly higher surplus for a longer period then those with lower and medium education. Therefore, the improved educational level of individuals will have a substantially positive impact on labour income in the future—on average by about 32% by 2060 for all EU countries included. However, as the better educated also consume more, higher production does not fully translate into improved economic sustainability, but the resulting net effect is still positive at about 19%.

The authors present for the first time an NTA by education for 15 EU countries and show the importance of including education in the analysis of the economic life cycle. The authors also show that increased educational level will mitigate the consequences of population ageing on economic sustainability in the future.

This paper aims to examine whether employers' opinions and expectations regarding workers' retirement age are in line with the ideas of the EU‐Member States' governments to increase the participation of older workers and to postpone the transition from paid work into retirement at the end of the labour market career.

A comparative survey was used among employers from five European countries: Greece, Hungary, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The authors found that most employers are reluctant in supporting later retirement. Part of this reluctance is the result of the perception that an ageing work force is a burden rather than a boom to organizations.

This study shows that there still is a discrepancy between the aims formulated at the level of the European Union and member state countries with respect to stimulating the labour force participation of older workers and the attitudes of individual employers. In particular, the fact that employers perceive alternative solutions to the challenges of an ageing and shrinking workforce, other than delaying retirement, suggests that most employers will not be a major driving force for extending the working life.

The purpose of this paper is to explore ageing trends and age stereotypes about older workers, focusing primarily on the Italian employment context.

Beginning from a review of the literature on ageing, the paper: outlines ageing trends and discriminatory behaviours against older workers in Italy; identifies patterns in the age discrimination phenomenon based on organisational characteristics; describes training‐based good practices for enhancing the employability of older workers, as implemented by an Italian energy company; presents a range of best practices for age management.

Despite trends towards an ageing general population and an ageing workforce, there is overwhelming evidence of age discrimination against older workers. This paper reports that the age at which workers may be considered “old” is not clearly defined in the literature and that age discrimination does not follow the same pattern across work contexts. In particular, both organisational characteristics and the particular position held by the employee influence discriminatory behaviour towards older workers on the part of employers. Furthermore, although older workers enjoy fewer training opportunities, training is the most widespread policy for dealing with age discrimination.

This paper points up important implications for human resource professionals and employers with regard to how to optimize an ageing workforce scenario.

The paper provides an in‐depth overview of ageing trends within Italian society and culture and outlines the possible implications for both older workers and organisations.

We explore what health-capital theory has to offer in terms of informing and directing research into health inequality. We argue that economic theory can help in identifying mechanisms through which specific socioeconomic indicators and health interact. Our reading of the literature, and our own work, leads us to conclude that non-degenerate versions of the Grossman (1972a, 1972b) model and its extensions can explain many salient stylized facts on health inequalities. Yet, further development is required in at least two directions. First, a childhood phase needs to be incorporated, in recognition of the importance of childhood endowments and investments in the determination of later-life socioeconomic and health outcomes. Second, a unified theory of joint investment in skill (or human) capital and in health capital could provide a basis for a theory of the relationship between education and health.

The purpose of the paper is to assess the critical financial and economic issues associated with the provision of adequate housing in the UK in the face of current and future demographic change.

The review is based on an investigation of the current state of preparedness of the housing market and its various stakeholders based on recent reports and secondary statistical evidence.

The findings emphasise the need for a multi-faceted approach to tackle the challenges that need to be addressed. Unless measures are initiated to influence the market, the requisite increase in the stock of appropriate housing in the face of rapid demographic change will not occur.

The value of the study is that it identifies the issues based on the current state of provision and makes recommendations for meeting the challenges arising from these issues. These recommendations have strong implications for policymakers and other stakeholders.

Human life course is shaped by a set of consecutive roles, such as being a worker, a spouse and a parent in a standard biography. However, being instantly disengaged from any of these roles may cause devastating effects on people’s lives. This discontinuity not only influences the very dynamics of the meaning of working, but also causes aging labor force to be excluded from the market economy. Experienced workers are drained from the pool of labor force just because they are old. This study aims at focusing on the effects of compulsory retirement both upon individual and upon structure, through the lenses of Political Economy of Aging (PEA) and Human Resources Management (HRM). The PEA perspective proposes a tripartite relationship among state (politics), market (economy) and individual (society), while HRM perspective provides an insight of an effective use of workforce from different generations, including older generation.