A Modest Proposal for Solving the Older Worker Productivity Problem

Following the satirist Jonathan Swift (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm), I outline a "modest proposal" for managing the older worker productivity problem. Although meta-analyses by psychologists have consistently shown little or no relationship between age and worker...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Charness, N. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2019
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
LEADER 01307nam a2200133Ia 4500
001 10.1093-workar-waz001
008 220511s2019 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 20544650 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a A Modest Proposal for Solving the Older Worker Productivity Problem 
260 0 |b Oxford University Press  |c 2019 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waz001 
520 3 |a Following the satirist Jonathan Swift (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm), I outline a "modest proposal" for managing the older worker productivity problem. Although meta-analyses by psychologists have consistently shown little or no relationship between age and worker productivity, older workers are clearly less productive from an economic perspective, given their average higher salary and, in the United States, their higher health care premiums. Building on Swift's satire, I propose that to satisfy profit-hungry capitalist firms, older worker contracts should include an automatic salary deflator past age 50. This would improve older worker productivity from an economic perspective by reducing the denominator in their productivity index (output/input costs) and add to the stock of the common good. © 2018 The Author(s). 
700 1 |a Charness, N.  |e author 
773 |t Work, Aging and Retirement