TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fuchs,Victor R.
TI  - Provide, Provide:  The Economics of Aging
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6642
PY  - 1998
Y2  - July 1998
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6642
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6642.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Victor R. Fuchs
796 Cedro Way
Stanford, CA  94305
Tel: 650/326-7639
Fax: 650/328-4163
E-Mail: vfuchs@stanford.edu
AB  - Data from the Bureau of the Census, the Health Care Financing Administration, the NBER Tax File and the Current Population Survey are used to estimate for the elderly (ages 65 and above) consumption of health care and income available for other goods and services in 1975, 1985, and 1995.  Extrapolation of 1975-1995 and 1985-1995 trends are used to obtain projections for 2020.  Even the more conservative projection shows that in 2020 health care for the elderly would consume 10 percent of the GDP, and income available for other goods and services would show an absolute decline from the 1995 level.  Changes in age-specific consumption of health care are found to be much more important than demographic changes.  Income inequality among the elderly in 1995 is found to be much less than at younger ages.
ER  -