Who Is Afraid of Population Aging? Myths, Challenges and an Open Question from the Civil Economy Perspective

Abstract

Population aging is a great human achievement, but the economic literature normally addresses its effects in a narrow way and as a “problem” to be solved. The objective of this paper is to provide a more balanced approach to aging by calling into question some widespread ideas in the economic literature on aging, such as its supposed negative influence on economic growth, its impact on labor productivity or the assumption that aging societies are incapable of applying reforms. The paper adopts the renewed civil economy framework and takes as a reference the existing literature about beliefs and wrong assumptions on aging. The innovative contribution of this analysis lies in its effort to foster a positive perspective in the population aging field of research and in challenging negative associations regarding old-age stereotypes.