NTA-related training in Malaysia

Our Project Professor Naohiro Ogawa conducted a week-long training at The University of Malaya (Universiti Malaya), in his capacity as Chairholder of the Social Security Research Center of that university, from February 12 to 19. During the week Prof. Ogawa delivered three lectures: 1."Rapid Population Aging, Changing Intergenerational Transfers and Increasing Demand for Lifecycle Wealth in Japan” (February 13), 2. "Population Aging and Its Impacts on Intergenerational Transfers in Japan and Selected Asian Countries” (February 14), and 3. "The Impact of Rapid Population Aging upon Economic Growth, Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Transfers in Japan and Selected Asian Countries” (February 17).

In his first lecture, Prof. Ogawa presented on the changing pattern of private and public interegenerational transfers and compared it with other, selected Asian countries, while drawing on the methodology of the National Transfers Accounts (NTA). He also addressed the issue of the emergence of the first demographic dividend, which arises due to age compositional shifts. His second lecture, while drawing on NTA indices for Japan in the period 1984-2009, focused on the three components of age allocations (public transfers, private transfers and assets), with emphasis on the economic status of the Japanese elderly. He pointed out that the elderly in Japan can be very useful in eliciting policy responses that could alleviate the economic problems brought about by rapid population aging, and that, for the elderly to fully realize their potential in that regard, financial education is very important. Prof. Ogawa's third lecture compared the computational results for Japan regarding the impact of population aging on public and private intergenerational transfers and the generation of the first and second demographic dividends, to the similar results for selected Asian countries. The lecture also touched on the issue of untapped work capacity of the elderly and their potential to contribute to the so called "Silver Dividend".