Where is growth in the developed world going to come from? Growth is vitally needed to bring down unemployment and to reduce the burden of debts incurred in both the private and public sectors over the past 20-30 years. But rich-world economic growth in the 21st century has so far been sluggish compared with previous decades. One problem seems likely to weigh heavily on growth: it is fairly certain that, in the absence of mass immigration, the absolute number of workers in many European countries will fall over the next 20 years. That will make it even more important to improve productivity if overall output is to grow (and if the retired are to receive their promised pensions). But as Fredrik Nerbrand of hsbc, a bank, argues in a research note, productivity gains seem harder to generate with an ageing workforce.
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