Aging Between Participation And Simulation

With increasing urgency, decisions about the digitalized future of healthcare and implementations of new assistive technologies are becoming focal points of societal and scientific debates and addresses large audiences. Decisions require a careful weighing of risks and benefits and contextualizing in-depth ethical analysis with robust empirical data. However, up to now, research on social assistive technologies is mostly dispersed over different academic fields and disciplines. A comprehensive overview on discussions regarding values at stake and ethical assessment of recent developments especially in healthcare is largely missing. This publication initiates an interdisciplinary discourse on ethical, legal and social implications of socially assistive technologies in healthcare. Contributions include perspectives from nursing science, social sciences, philosophy, medical ethics, economics and law to present an – to our knowledge – first and comprehensive overview on different aspects of the use and implementation of socially assistive technologies from an ethical perspective. It combines practically relevant insights and examples from current research and development with ethical analysis to uncover exemplary moral tipping points between promotion of participation or well-being and risks and damages to these values. Healthcare professionals involved in implementation of smart technologies as well as scholars from the field of humanities, nursing and medicine, interested in the discussions on ethics and technology in healthcare, will benefit from this new contribution. The publication is part of the international DigitAs conference "Aging between Participation and Simulation – Ethical Dimensions of Socially Assistive Technologies" held at the Institute of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine (Ruhr University Bochum) from 4 February to 8 February 2019. Within this framework, twelve young scholars were invited to discuss their contributions with renowned experts in the field. The Institute of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine is one of the leading institutes in empirically informed ethical analysis in healthcare and medicine and is a member of the European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME).

An invaluable guide to creating successful simulations for teaching and scholarly research

This book explores the linkages between age-related pension expenditures and the fiscal space needed to fund them, as well as to organize the mix of financing methods with different risk-sharing arrangements. After critically assessing the existing models projecting age-related expenditure in the literature, the book focuses on the case studies of these inter-linkages in four highly-populated East Asian countries, namely China, Indonesia, India, and Japan. Nearly two- fifths of the global population live in these countries. Therefore, how these inter-linkages manifest themselves and the initiatives in these countries for finding fiscal space will have an impact on how the ageing issues are addressed globally. This book does several distinguishing characteristics, including exploration of inter-linkages between age-related expenditure and fiscal space, and application of country-specific methods to explore these linkages, rather than relying standard macroeconomic model. In the process, the studies also bring out the limitations of standardized model used in the literatures. Scholars and policy makers interested in the subject will definitely find the book of valuable use.

There is much confusion in the economics literature on wage determination and the employment-inflation trade-off. Few model builders pay as much careful attention to the definition and meaning of long-run concepts as did Albert Ando. Expanding on years of painstaking work by Ando, the contributors elaborate on the main issues of economic analysis and policies that concerned him.

Societies across Europe and Central Asia are aging, but people are not necessarily living longer. This demographic trend-caused by a decrease in fertility rather than improved longevity-presents both challenges and opportunities for governments, the private sector, and individuals alike. Some of the challenges are well known. Output per capita becomes smaller if it is shared with an increasingly larger group of dependent older people. At a certain point, there may not be sufficient resources to maintain the living standards of this older group, especially if rising expenditures on health care, long-term care, and pensions must be financed through the contributions and taxes paid by ever-smaller younger age groups. Working adults also contribute the most to the pool of savings. As the size of this group shrinks, savings will decline. But these challenges can be transformed into opportunities. Consider these examples: As longevity increases, workers tend to stay in the workforce longer, and, with the right incentives, they will increase their savings. Many current workers, and perhaps even more in the future, will thus not necessarily become dependent once they turn 65. And with slower population growth and smaller young age groups, societies will have an opportunity to improve the quality of education and maintain productivity. Firms in some countries are already adapting by capitalizing on skills that appreciate with age. Cardiovascular diseases account for more than half the difference in life expectancy (above age 50) between the region and Western Europe for men and 75 percent of the corresponding difference for women. Healthier behavior and health systems focused on preventive care could, with no cost increase, dramatically reduce this risk. These opportunities are not to be missed. As populations age, public discourse ranges from concerns about economic decline and fiscal sustainability of pensions and health systems to optimism about opportunities for healthier and more productive aging. The main contribution of Golden Aging is perhaps to show that demography and its consequences are not fixed. Much will depend on how people, firms, and societies adapt and how policy makers and institutions facilitate their behavioral adjustments. The future for Europe and Central Asia does not have to be gray-it can be a golden era of healthy, active, and prosperous aging.

Japanese and American economists assess the present economic status of the elderly in the United States and Japan, and consider the impact of an aging population on the economies of the two countries. With essays on labor force participation and retirement, housing equity and the economic status of the elderly, budget implications of an aging population, and financing social security and health care in the 1990s, this volume covers a broad spectrum of issues related to the economics of aging. Among the book's findings are that workers are retiring at an increasingly earlier age in both countries and that, as the populations age, baby boomers in the United States will face diminishing financial resources as the ratio of retirees to workers sharply increases. The result of a joint venture between the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Japan Center for Economic Research, this book complements Housing Markets in the United States and Japan (1994) by integrating research on housing markets with economic issues of the aged in the United States and Japan.