On the Consequences of Demographic Change for Rates of Returns to Capital, and the Distribution of Wealth and Welfare

Dirk Krueger and Alexander Ludwig

No 12453, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper employs a multi-country large scale Overlapping Generations model with uninsurable labor productivity and mortality risk to quantify the impact of the demographic transition towards an older population in industrialized countries on world-wide rates of return, international capital flows and the distribution of wealth and welfare in the OECD. We find that for the U.S. as an open economy, rates of return are predicted to decline by 86 basis points between 2005 and 2080 and wages increase by about 4.1%. If the U.S. were a closed economy, rates of return would decline and wages increase by less. This is due to the fact that other regions in the OECD will age even more rapidly; therefore the U.S. is "importing" the more severe demographic transition from the rest of the OECD in the form of larger factor price changes. In terms of welfare, our model suggests that young agents with little assets and currently low labor productivity gain, up to 1% in consumption, from higher wages associated with population aging. Older, asset-rich households tend to lose, because of the predicted decline in real returns to capital.

JEL-codes: C68 D33 E17 E25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-dge, nep-eff and nep-mac
Note: EFG PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published as Krueger, Dirk & Ludwig, Alexander, 2007. "On the consequences of demographic change for rates of returns to capital, and the distribution of wealth and welfare," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 49-87, January.

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Related works:
Journal Article: On the consequences of demographic change for rates of returns to capital, and the distribution of wealth and welfare (2007)
Working Paper: On the Consequences of Demographic Change for Rates of Return to Capital, and the Distribution of Wealth and Welfare (2006)
Working Paper: On the Consequences of Demographic Change for Rates of Returns to Capital, and the Distribution of Wealth and Welfare (2006)
Working Paper: On the consequences of demographic change for rates of return to capital, and the distribution of wealth and welfare (2006)
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