706 - The Economics and Geopolitics of Aging
Demography is reshaping the economic and geopolitical landscape of the 21st century. The United States, along with the rest of the developed world, is entering an era of rapid population aging. Will it also be an era of rising fiscal burdens, chronically slow economic growth, and diminished geopolitical stature? China, the world’s “factory floor’ for the past twenty-five years, is now hitting its own demographic wall. Can a demographically graying and shrinking China still be an economically and geopolitically rising China? India, which just overtook China as the world’s most population country, has more favorable demographics. But can it overcome its many economic handicaps to replace China as the engine of global growth? And what about sub-Saharan Africa, which will account for two-thirds of the growth in the world’s working-age population between now and 2050? Speakers explore the implications of these and other global demographic developments for the world economy and world order.
Speakers:
Mr. Thomas S. Terry
Richard Jackson