Asia as a whole is experiencing a rapid demographic transition toward older populations, though different countries are at different stages of this region-wide trend. We document Asia's aging population, describe the region's old-age support systems, and highlight the regional socioeconomic...

In recent years, inequality has risen in the region alongside rapid economic growth. The widening income gap strengthens the case for a government response, and fiscal policy is one of the most suitable policy instruments to promote a more equitable society that provides opportunities for all....

Changes in the population age structure can have a significant effect on fiscal sustainability since they can affect both government revenues and expenditures. For example, population aging will increase expenditures on the elderly while reducing potential growth and hence revenues. In this...

Asia's rapid population aging fortifies the case for strengthening human capital investments. Further, the experience of the newly industrialized economies suggests that human capital investments will be a vital ingredient of the transition from middle income to high income. Those investments...

Asia is aging, although there is significant heterogeneity across subregions and economies. Population aging poses two strategic challenges for the region: sustaining economic growth and delivering old-age economic security. In this paper, we leverage the lifecycle perspective-that individuals'...

Using the Milligan and Wise (2015) and Cutler, Meara, and Richards-Shubik (2013) methodologies, we examine (i) how much would people today with a given mortality rate or life expectancy work if they were to work as much as those with the same mortality rate worked in the past, and (ii) how much...

A major side effect of globalization is the erosion of the tax base due to the growing mobility of capital and the consequent international tax competition for capital. The potential loss of revenues is encouraging developing Asia's governments to look for alternative, nonconventional, nontax...