 Why is ageing associated with lower adoption of new technologies? Evidence from voluntary medical male circumcision and a structural modelThe Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2021, vol. 19, issue C Abstract: A popular conception is that older people are less likely to adopt new technologies than are younger people. The mechanism underlying this relationship is less well-known. I provide evidence on this question using data from the introduction of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), a new medical technology with substantial health benefits in high HIV prevalence settings. I find limited support for several leading potential mechanisms such as previous investment in older substitute technologies, cohort differences in educational attainment, or various life-cycle changes (i.e. marriage, having ever had sex, coital frequency). I provide a model demonstrating that shorter time horizons and lower consumption values of life mechanically associated with ageing may cause lower VMMC adoption among older males and simulate the adoption-age profile under various parameter assumptions. I discuss implications for policymaking and future research. Keywords: Ageing; Health; Technology (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joecag:v:19:y:2021:i:c:s2212828x21000025 DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2021.100308 Access Statistics for this article The Journal of the Economics of Ageing is currently edited by D.E. Bloom, A. Sousa-Poza and U. Sunde More articles in The Journal of the Economics of Ageing from Elsevier |
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