The Economic Implications of Population Ageing in China and India: Introduction to the Special Issue

Authors: David Bloom, Karen Eggleston

DCP3 Principal Investigator Dr. Rachel Nugent served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Economics of Ageing. 

Introduction:

In this special issue of The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, we focus on economic aspects of population ageing in the world’s two population superpowers: China and India.

China and India have been the subject of comparison for many years. Observations about their relative political and economic development abound (see for example Sen, 2013), but little analysis is currently available of their comparative demographic trajectories and the possible economic consequences of the population ageing that they are both undergoing. These demographic trajectories are increasingly critical for understanding the economies of both countries and offer unique opportunities to enrich the theoretical and empirical understanding of the economics of population ageing. This special issue attempts to fill this gap by drawing together recent micro- and macro-economic research on ageing in China and India. This introduction provides some background on demographic trends in both countries and then a brief primer on some of the connections between demographic trends and economic changes, potential problems that population ageing may bring, and possible behavioral and policy responses. The final section links these themes to a preview of the central contributions of the 10 articles in this special edition, their accompanying perspective pieces, and the significant opportunities for future research that arise from new datasets covering middle-aged and older Indians and Chinese.  Read more