Issues and Results from Research on the Elderly I: Economic Status (Part I of III Parts)

This is the first part of a three-part paper on research on the elderly. The objective of the paper is to present issues and research results in three areas: economic status, retirement, and consumption and saving. This part covers background material on demographic change, living arrangements, income growth and labor force participation, and research on economic Status. The major areas of research on economic status are: adjustments to observed income to bring it closer to a welfare measure with the objective of understanding whether the elderly are better off than the nonelderly; the distribution of income among the elderly and in particular the extent and causes of the high poverty level of elderly widows; wealth holdings, especially sources of wealth and the importance of public programs.