The number of Americans eligible to receive Social Security benefits
will increase from forty-five million to nearly eighty million in the
next twenty years. Retirement systems must therefore adapt to meet the
demands of the largest aging population in our nation's history. In
Developments in the Economics of Aging, David A. Wise and a
distinguished group of analysts examine the economic issues that will
confront policy makers as they seek to design policies to protect the
economic and physical health of these older Americans.
The volume looks at such topics as factors influencing work and
retirement decisions at older ages, changes in life satisfaction
associated with retirement, and the shift in responsibility for managing
retirement assets from professional money managers of traditional
pension plans to individual account holders of 401(k)s. Developments in
the Economics of Aging also addresses the complicated relationship
between health and economic status, including why health behaviors vary
across populations and how socioeconomic measures correlate with health
outcomes.