Books: Winter, 2009

03/01/2009
Featured in print Reporter

Developments in the Economics of Aging

Developments in the Economics of Aging, edited by David A. Wise, will be available from the University of Chicago Press this spring for $99.00.

The number of Americans eligible to receive Social Security benefits will increase from 45 million to nearly 80 million in the next twenty years. Retirement systems therefore must adapt to meet the demands of the largest aging population in our nation's history. In this NBER Conference Volume, Wise and a distinguished group of analysts examine the economic issues that will confront policymakers as they seek to design the appropriate policies to protect the economic and physical health of these older Americans.

This volume looks at such topics as what factors influence work and retirement decisions at older ages; the changes in life satisfaction associated with retirement; and the shift in responsibility for managing retirement assets, from professional money managers of traditional pension plans to individual account holders of 401(k)s. It also addresses the complicated relationship between health and economic status, including why health behaviors vary across populations and how socioeconomic measures correlate with health outcomes.

Wise directs the NBER's Program on the Economics of Aging and is John F. Stambaugh Professor of Political Economy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Financial Sector Development in the Pacific Rim

Financial Sector Development in the Pacific Rim, Volume 18 in the NBER-East Asia Seminar on Economics (EASE) series, will be available this April from the University of Chicago Press. The editors, who serve as organizers of the EASE conferences, are Takatoshi Ito and Andrew K. Rose.

The reform in Asian financial sectors-especially in banking and stock markets-has been remarkable since the currency crisis of 1997-8. East Asia is now a major player in international finance, providing serious competition to the more traditional financial centers of London and New York. This book provides a rich collection of theoretical and empirical analyses of the growing capital markets in the region. It brings together authors from various East Asian and Pacific nations, and examines the institutional factors influencing financial innovation; the consequences of financial development; widespread consolidation occurring through mergers and acquisitions; and the implementation of policy reform. The comparative analysis offered here can help to answer broad questions about economic development and the future of Asia.

Ito and Rose are NBER Research Associates in the Program on International Finance and Macroeconomics. Ito is also a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo. Rose is a professor of economics at The Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

The clothbound volume will sell for $99.00.