Population Ageing and Economic Growth

We review standard economic growth models concentrating on the relationship between population ageing and economic growth and develop a growth model with endogenous human capital and endogenous fertility. With this model we analyse the effects of education policy and family policy on economic growth. The main result for economic policy is that education policy boosts human capital and thus economic growth only in the short-term (i.e. during the transition phase towards the steady state). To boost economic growth in the long-term (i.e. when the economy has reached its steady state), it is necessary to employ family policy as this increases both the fertility rate and the time individuals spend accumulating human capital. The main result for economic growth theory is that steady state economic growth is not possible when population is ageing.  Steady state growth is only possible if the age structure of the population is constant.