Demographics and Destiny

• Author: Gita Bhatt
• Position: Editor-in-chief
• Pages: 4-4

2 FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT | March 2020

EDITOR'S LETTER

ON THE COVER

Our March 2020 issue focuses on demographic shifts taking place globally and how the

right policies can help people live longer, happier, and more productive lives. Illustrator

Davide Bonazzi’s cover is a whimsical depiction of the path to a long, good life.

Demographics

and Destiny

WHEN I VISIT my home country, India, I am always st ruck by how young

it looks. From the big cities to the tiny village s, one can see the hopes

and aspirations of twenty-somethings, many in search of work. In Japan,

demographic trends have been moving in the opposite direc tion. Homes

sit vacant, and villa ges are vanish ing, as people have fewer children. In

response, the Japanese are embracin g technology to f‌ill the gaps through

innovations like robot chefs and automated medica l services.

Changes in the size and structure of a nation’s population af‌fect how we

work, age, and live. In many advanced and emerging market economies,

a shrinking pool of working-age people will have to support a growing

number of retirees. Other countries—in Africa and elsewhere—will need

to generate a staggering number of new jobs just to keep pace with the

youth joining the job market.

Changing age dy namics have profound implications for growt h, social

stability, and geopolitics. ey inf‌luence how people save, spend, and invest,

with consequences for every thing from marriage to ret irement to migration.

is issue brings together leading thinkers in their f‌ields to explore the

many facets of population trend s and consider what they mean for our future.

David Bloom focuses on the main drivers of demographic transitions,

including life expect ancy, fertility, and migration. Vitor Gaspar and

coauthors look at the f‌iscal sust ainability of health and pension f‌inanci ng.

Other contributors highlight novel approaches, the role of incentives,

and tried-and-tested policy solutions, such as using technology to boost

productivity, raising the retirement age, opening up to immigration, and

increasing women and older workers’ labor force participation.

Demographics can shape a c ountry’s destiny. But policy choices matter,

from encouraging technologica l innovation and institutional reform to

investing in people, both young and old. With wise policies, more of us

will enjoy the long, good life.

GITA BHATT, editor-in-chief

FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT

A Quarterly Publication of the

International Monetary Fund

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Gita Bhatt

MANAGING EDITOR:

Maureen Burke

SENIOR EDITORS:

Jacqueline Deslauriers

Peter Walker

DIGITAL EDITOR:

Rahim Kanani

ONLINE EDITOR:

Lijun Li

PRODUCTION MANAGER:

Melinda Weir

COPY EDITORS:

Michael Harrup

Lucy Morales

ADVISORS TO THE EDITOR:

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English edition ISSN 0145-1707

Bernardin Akitoby

Celine Allard

Bas Bakker

Steven Barnett

Nicoletta Batini

Helge Berger

Paul Cashin

Luis Cubeddu

Alfredo Cuevas

Rupa Duttagupta

Thomas Helbling

Tommaso Mancini Griffoli

Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti

Christian Mumssen

İnci Ötker

Catriona Purfield

Uma Ramakrishnan

Abdelhak Senhadji

Alison Stuart

Summers on secular

stagnation P.17

Japan’s

shrinkonomics P.20

Older but not

poorer P.30

MARCH 2020

The Long, Good Life

Demographics and Economic Well-Being