Aging and savings in Korea: A time-series approach

Thanks to numerous empirical research studies, a general consensus has been reached on the effects of an aging population on the economy, particularly in terms of economic growth and savings. However, most of the previous research examines the effects of the aging on economically advanced countries. Furthermore, rarely have those studies used the time-series properties of the data. By applying two popular time-series statistical tools (multivariate cointegration analysis and vector error correction model) to Korean data, this paper finds: (1) There is a long-run equilibrium linkage among the aging, medical expenditure and savings; however (2) there is no Granger-causality present between aging and national savings in the short run in Korea.