The Public Economics of Changing Longevity (Elements in Public Economics)

Description

Our societies are witnessing a steady increase in longevity. This demographic evolution is accompanied by some convergence across countries, but at the same time substantial longevity inequalities persist within nations across income classes. This Element aims to survey some crucial implications of changing longevity on the design of optimal public policy. For that purpose, it first focuses on some difficulties raised by risky and varying lifetime for the representation of individual and social preferences. Then, it explore some central implications of changing longevity for optimal policy making, regarding prevention against premature death, pension policies, education, health care and long-term care. The author distinguishes between the case when longevity is partially the responsibility of individuals and the case when longevity is plainly exogenous. Cover Title Page Copyright Page The Public Economics of Changing Longevity Contents 1 Introduction 2 Concepts and Figures 2.1 Aging and Dependency 2.2 Life Expectancy 2.3 Survival Curves and Rectangularization 2.4 Longevity Differentials Across Individuals 2.5 Healthy Life Expectancy 2.6 Centenarians 2.7 Retirement and Dependency 2.8 Replacement Migration 2.9 Life Expectancy, Economic Growth, and Environmental Quality 3 Individual Choice and Social Valuation 3.1 Individual Choice 3.1.1 Attitudes Towards Mortality Risk 3.1.2 Horizon Effects 3.1.3 Endogenous Mortality Risks 3.2 Normative Foundations 3.2.1 Inequality Aversion 3.2.2 Responsibility and Luck 3.2.3 Ex Ante versus Ex Post Equality 4 Public Policy with Exogenous Longevity 4.1 Harsher Occupation and Shorter Life 4.2 The Effect of Aging on the Distribution and Structure of Wealth 4.3 Longevity, Education, and Growth 4.4 Longevity, Pensions, and Growth 4.5 Old Age Poverty Alleviation 4.6 Social Insurance for Long-Term Care and for Old Age 4.6.1 Individual Problem 4.6.2 Optimum With no Liquidity Constraints 4.6.3 Optimum With Liquidity Constraints 4.7 Inheritance Taxation Related to Age and Dependency 5 Public Policy With Endogenous Longevity 5.1 Optimal Taxation With Heterogeneity in Longevity Genes and Labor Productivity 5.2 Preventive and Curative Health Care 5.3 Free-Riding and Longevity 5.4 Growth and Longevity 5.5 Longevity and Environment 5.6 Optimal Lockdown Policy in the case of a Pandemic 5.6.1 Utilitarian Criterion 5.6.2 Ex Post Egalitarianism 5.7 Fear of Ruin and Rectangularization 6 Conclusion References Acknowledgments