As the workforce ages : costs, benefits, and policy challenges /

This stimulating collection of essays from a conference at Cornell University discusses the implications for economies, such as the US, where the combination of low birth rates and increased longevity produces an aging work force. Most essays focus on the economics of older workers, not on the determinants of retirement as many recent books do. The authors are experienced academic and nonacademic researchers in economics or demography. The 11 essays are grouped into three parts; those in the second are based on econometric analysis. The econometric essays examine whether older displaced workers face fewer job choices than do younger displaced workers and whether older workers prefer different types of health insurance than do younger workers; these essays may have fallen short of their authors' hopes, but each asks interesting and challenging questions that should encourage other researchers to improve the results. Authors in many chapters do not hesitate to speculate about either demographic trends or the consequences of those trends, asking, for example, whether the aging baby boomers will ask the political system for more family support. Good, strong bibliography. All libraries.