Ron Lee

Ron Lee highlighted the increasing outside interest in the work of NTA, coming from policymakers, economists, and other academics. For example, the United States National Institute on Ageing initiated a meeting in early May under the auspices of the United States Academy of Sciences to discuss next steps for NTA. One topic of discussion was the identification of the best institutional home for NTA. Should NTA move into national statistical offices and become a part of national accounts? This will probably only happen in a few countries.

Ron also discussed new directions for NTA in terms of research. These include work on gender and time use, which is taking place in Latin America, the United States, and some countries of Europe and Asia. Another new area focuses on creating accounts by socioeconomic status. This work is progressing most rapidly in Latin America. In Ron's view, some of NTA's strongest messages for policymakers will come from these two areas of research.

Another important area of research is wealth accounts, including bequests. Without information in this area, the story on intergenerational accounts is incomplete. Information on wealth accounts should also help solve some of the puzzles that have been encountered, such as the fact that young people often have more asset income than can be explained by their past savings, which is probably due to bequests.

Ron hopes that additional new research directions will emerge from this meeting.

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