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Economic Gerontology: Older People as Consumers and Workers

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Book cover Old Age In Europe

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Aging ((BRIEFSAGING))

Abstract

This chapter discusses older people’s roles in the economy. It considers them in their role as workers who sell their manpower in the labour market, and as consumers who purchase goods and services. In Europe, the situation of older workers is currently strongly debated, and several governments have implemented reforms trying to encourage people to work until a later age. Older Europeans’ consumption patterns differ markedly from the ones of younger individuals, e.g. in that older people spend less money. Finally, this chapter discusses how the economic crisis might affect older Europeans.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For information about the economics of ageing, see Schulz (2001), Wise (2009, 2010).

  2. 2.

    For an excellent overview of theories of ageing, see Quadagno (2011).

  3. 3.

    EUROFAMCARE project about Services for Supporting Family Carers of Elderly People in Europe: Characteristics, Coverage and Usage, see http://www.uke.de/extern/eurofamcare/.

  4. 4.

    For more information, see the ‘Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe’, which studies the situation of Europeans aged 50+ http://www.share-project.org/.

  5. 5.

    For more details, see http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland

    Jolanta Perek-Bialas

  2. Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Joop J. Schippers

Authors
  1. Jolanta Perek-Bialas
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  2. Joop J. Schippers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jolanta Perek-Bialas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Umeå University, Department of Sociology, Vindarnas Trog 1, Umeå, 901 87, Sweden

    Kathrin Komp

  2. , Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands

    Marja Aartsen

Check Your Progress: A Quiz on Economic Gerontology

Check Your Progress: A Quiz on Economic Gerontology

Question 6.1: Why do older people sometimes have problems to find a job? (multiple answers apply)

  1. (a)

    Older people might have health problems, which can make it hard to carry out physically demanding jobs

  2. (b)

    Older people might not be interested in working anymore

  3. (c)

    Employers might be prejudiced against older workers

  4. (d)

    Older people might not be informed about the latest technological developments

  5. (e)

    All of the above.

Question 6.2: What does the social exchange theory imply about older people?

  1. (a)

    Older people do not want to have social contact with younger people, because younger people do not have many resources

  2. (b)

    Older people want to have social contact with younger people, because younger people have many resources

  3. (c)

    Younger people do not want to have social contact with older people, because older people do not have many resources

  4. (d)

    Younger people want to have social contact with older people, because older people have many resources

  5. (e)

    Older people want to have contact with younger people, because everybody lost resources due to the economic crisis.

Question 6.3: How does consumption behaviour change with age?

  1. (a)

    Young people consume particularly much

  2. (b)

    Old people consume particularly much

  3. (c)

    Middle-aged people consume particularly much

  4. (d)

    Young and old people consume particularly much

  5. (e)

    Middle-aged and old people consume particularly much.

Question 6.4: In which areas does consumption increase in old age? (Multiple answers possible)

  1. (a)

    Food

  2. (b)

    Transportation

  3. (c)

    Heating

  4. (d)

    Health

  5. (e)

    Leisure

Question 6.5: Which older Europeans are particularly likely to work? (Multiple answers apply)

  1. (a)

    Those with a low educational level

  2. (b)

    Those with an intermediate educational level.

  3. (c)

    Those with a high educational level.

  4. (d)

    Those in Northern and Continental Europe.

  5. (e)

    Those in Southern and Eastern Europe.

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Perek-Bialas, J., Schippers, J.J. (2013). Economic Gerontology: Older People as Consumers and Workers. In: Komp, K., Aartsen, M. (eds) Old Age In Europe. SpringerBriefs in Aging. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6134-6_6

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