Toward a Comprehensive Resolution of Social Security Problems: A new economics of aging

2006 - 2010

As Japan experiences the aging of its society at a pace unprecedented worldwide, it is essential to build a sustainable social security system that ensures that the elderly do not suffer a decline in quality of life. Our research transcends the bounds of the traditional field-specific approach that addresses the health care, long-term care, and pension fields separately, and of simulation analysis with the use of macro models, and instead adopts a "new" microscopic yet comprehensive, market-oriented approach that is premised on the diversity of the elderly. Based on pilot studies already conducted in previous years, and with the intellectual support of the analogous studies of the elderly (the U.S. HRS [Health and Retirement Study], ELSA [English Longitudinal Study of Ageing] in the UK, and SHARE [Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe] in Continental Europe), our research has inaugurated a world-standard panel study on population aged over 50. We are gathering data that is both multi-faceted, covering such aspects as health condition, economic situation, family relationships, employment status, and social participation, and that is also capable of international comparison. Our intention in doing this is to help ensure that "evidence-based policy-making" based on an abundance of microdata becomes an established feature in the sphere of social security policy in Japan, and that Japan's experience can be taken advantage of by other countries in their policy-making.

Until June 30, 2011