Abstract
With the inversion of the age pyramid, the dependency ratio increases sharply, placing greater pressure on the younger generations. This trend has been used to argue that ageing represents a tax on the younger generations. In Chap. 4, we critically examine the evidence in support of this proposition, with an analysis of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data from the 55th and 68th rounds.
The analysis focuses on two aspects: financial contribution of the aged to their families and whether this contribution helps to reduce poverty levels in India. Gross financial contribution is defined as the income earned by the aged as the percentage of total household expenditure; net financial contribution, on the other hand, is net income (income less consumption) of the aged as the proportion of household expenditure.
Another way of assessing the economic contribution of the aged is to exclude their income from household income and assume that the remaining income is redistributed among only the non-aged members. Two measures of poverty may be calculated—the first measure is based on the complete NSSO data and the second after excluding the aged sub-sample.
This chapter estimates gross and net financial contributions of the aged, regional variations in net financial contribution, and changes in poverty levels after dropping the aged sub-sample.
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- 1.
Accessed from www.censusindia.gov.in/2001census/c9_India.pdf on 01/05/2014.
- 2.
Accessed from www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/populationenumeration.aspx on 03/05/2014.
- 3.
Accessed from http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/statewise_sdp1999_2000_8feb.pdf on 10/05/2014.
Accessed from http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/State_wise_SDP_2004-05_14mar12.pdf on 02/05/2014.
- 4.
Accessed from http://planningcommission.nic.in/pov_rep0707.pdf on 15/01/15.
- 5.
Accessed from http://planningcommission.nic.in/pre_pov.pdf2307 on 18/01/15.
- 6.
Dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents (children and aged) to total population. This may be split into young dependency ratio and old dependency ratio, with the numerator being adjusted accordingly.
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Husain, Z. (2020). Economic Contribution of the Aged: A National Profile. In: Active Ageing and Labour Market Engagement. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0583-6_4
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