The demographic profile and the social-economic characteristics of the populations of advanced economies have changed in the last fifty years and will experience deep changes in the next future as the result of various processes: the lowest- low fertility, the increase in longevity, the more and more accelerated global mobility. The main objective of the course is to analyze some of the challenges that these changes will imply on some aspects of the "markets" of the advanced countries. In particular, after the introduction of some key concepts for the understanding of the demographic context, the following four main economic issues deriving from population ageing will be discussed: 1) Economic Growth and innovation of a country; 2) Wealth and consumption by age; 3) Social and health services; 4) The pension system.
At the end of the course, the student will acquire:
1) Knowledge and understanding: awareness of the forces that are behind the passage from the old regime to the new demographic regime. Ability to evaluate the economic consequences related to demographic changes;
2) Applying knowledge and understanding: ability to collect data and produce reports based on them with the aim of critically highlighting what are the major demographic problems of one or more populations and what economic consequences these could produce;
3) Making judgements: The student will be able to evaluate autonomously and critically the reliability of statements concerning the demographic system coming from various possible sources (television, newspapers, internet, official reports, etc.);
4) Communication skills: Students will be encouraged through the presentation of small reports prepared by them to improve their ability to synthesize complex topic and to improve their ability of oral exposure;
5) Learning skills: Students will learn the basics concepts that will enable them to tackle any advanced courses in demography, and/or interdisciplinary courses.