Home

About NTA

Methodology

NTA Countries

Publications

Meetings and Presentations

-

External Links

CEDA

East-West Center

UN ECLAC NTA

NUPRI

AERC

-

Contact Us

What's New

Summary of Results

Per capita age profiles of the life cycle deficit (LCD) for selected African countries. LCD is defined as the difference between consumption and labor income at each age. Lifecycle deficits occur when labor income is less than consumption and lifecycle surpluses when labor income exceeds consumption.

For the rest of NTA countries, go to Selected Preliminary Results

Argentina Joins the NTA Project

We welcome Dr. Rafael Rofman (Buenos Aires Office of the World Bank), Dr. Jorge Paz (Instituto de Estudios Laborales y del Desarrollo Economico- Labor Studies and Economic Development Institute, the National University of Salta), and Dr. Pablo Comelatto (Centro de Estudios de Poblacion) to the NTA Project. They will work on constructing the NTA for Argentina.

United Kingdom Joins the NTA Project

We welcome Dr. David McCarthy and Dr. James Sefton, both of Imperial College Business School, London, to the NTA Project. They will work on constructing the NTA for the United Kingdom.

Upcoming Meetings

• EWC Conference on Population and the Generational Economy, Honolulu, June 11-12, 2010

• EWC Summer Seminar on Population. Workshop 1: Population Aging and the Generational Economy, June 6-20, 2010

Recent Events

European NTA Workshop, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, February 25-26, 2010

Latin American NTA Seminar on Population Aging, Intergenerational Transfers, and Social Protection.
NTA researchers and policymakers from Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay met in Santiago, Chile on October 20-21, 2009 to discuss the use of National Transfers Accounts to inform public policy decisions. Organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and sponsored by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), United Nations Population Fund, and the United Nations Population Division.

For more information see Meetings and Presentations

Recent Publications

Ronald Lee and Andrew Mason. 2010 Generational Economics in a Changing World. Presented at a meeting on the long-term consequences of the demographic transition held in Madrid, Spain in September 2009. Currently under review of a special issue of Population and Development Review.

Abstract: Hunter-gatherers evolved a life strategy of food sharing within and across generations, including transferring surplus food to children to support their long period of nutritional dependency. In intensive agriculture, the elderly became net consumers, when they were sustained in part by food transfers from their adult children. At the same time, assets became more important, providing an alternative support for the retired. These trends continued as agriculture gave way to industry. A growing public sector reinforced downward transfers with public education and health care for children. With development, transfers to the elderly became increasingly important, their fiscal effect exacerbated by aging populations. At the same time, the growth of capital and financial institutions provided new forms of asset accumulation along with private pensions. These two trends reduced the role of the family in providing for the elderly. Our evolved sociality is now expressed through welfare state redistributive programs, and intensifying public and private investment in children. But population aging and more public programs for the elderly has led to a reversal in the direction of resource flows from downward to upward. The old age dependency ratio is projected to double or triple in coming decades in the rich industrial countries, and the public costs of the elderly may increasingly compete with investments in children through the public sector budget constraint. It remains to be seen whether the elderly will opt to work until older ages, and whether the rapid growth of health care expenditures will be restrained.