GGR208 Lecture 08

GGR208 Lecture March 16a.pdf

• Aging and popl change
  • Global issue, not just in developed countries
  • Results in:
    • Change in Dependency Ratio
      • We need Dependency Ratio above $2$.
      • Aging dependency rather than youth dependency.
    • Change in Population Pyramids
    • Because aging population, they're crying that's the strain on healthcare.
    • It's an issue of declining fertility, not aging population.
  • $80+$ is the fastest growing age group in the world.
    • Requires a lot of healthcare expenditure and attention.
  • Double the rate of growth of the population as a whole.
  • Institutionalized care is becoming more the norm.
  • The decline in fertility is the main driver of population aging.
    • Results in less people in the labour force
    • Also results in less people to care for the elderly.
  • This is all associated with Economic Development too.
  • Reasons of aging in Canada
    • Increased life expectancy
      • Not expected to increase much more.
      • Potentially decline.
      • Due to diet, physical activity, etc.
        • We still have to care for these people who are making these bad choices with their lifestyles.
    • Living standards
    • Pensions and healthcare
    • Pandemics and responses to them.
    • Climate change
    • Because of higher Life Expectancy. They have to pay for more years of retirement.
    • A lot more elderly poverty.
    • Change of population structure
      • The number of elderly relative to the number of people in the labour force is increasing.
      • Replacement is getting lower
    • Decline in fertility
      • Temporal shift
      • Postponing childbearing
        • Because increased education and labour force participation
        • Equity
      • Casual relationships
      • Everyone is delaying leaving home
        • Maybe also due to cost of housing.
      • Smaller families
    • Limiting economic growth as well.
  • Ageism
    • Ideas that they may be holding back technological progress.
    • Workers made obsolete through technological change. It's harder for them to get re-employed. They may have to educate themselves and learn new skills, etc.
  • Resentment towards the elderly
    GGR208 Lectureb March 16.pdf
• Healthcare costs
• Association between elderly and healthcare costs
• Government revenue and expenditure
  • $B=T-G$
  • $B$ is the budget balance, $T$ is tax revenue, and $G$ is government expenditure.
  • Since they don't often pay down debt mainly, just the interest.
  • They might just have to raise taxes or cut spending.
  • Eventually debt monetization may be the only option.
• Healthcare issues
  • Need and delivery
    • $\frac{1}{3}$ of $85+$ are living in institutions.
    • Chronic health issues are getting more and more.
  • $10\mathrm{\%}$ of over $15$ report some disability.
  • Want to move some care from private to public
  • $25\mathrm{\%}$ of costs are caring for people in their last days of life.
• Avoidable Mortality to reduce healthcare costs
  • Preventable:
    • smoking, diet, drugs, alcohol, physical activity, etc.
  • Treatable:
    • diabetes, hypertension, etc.
    • screening
  • Have lifestyle changes to reduce amount of people who stress these healthcare systems.
  • Since we have a multicultural society, we also need to make sure that we have proper availability and messaging to these cultures.