Globalization, cumulative advantage, and inequality: implications for retirement income systems

Structural changes in economic systems have driven increased income inequality across developed nations in recent decades. Despite much attention to overall increases in income inequality, there has been less attention to the impact of these forces on late-life economic inequality and the age distribution of economic well-being. These developments have powerful implications for retirement income systems, which can either buffer or magnify the impacts of processes of cumulative advantage and disadvantage over the lifecourse. This presentation will examine these issues, drawing on an analysis of evolving patterns of economic inequality by age and cohort between the mid-1980s and the current decade in the U.S., using a comprehensive measure of economic well-being. Results demonstrate rising old-age inequality over this period and presage even higher rates of inequality in coming decades, as high-inequality cohorts now at midlife reach old age. Implications for retirement income policies will be discussed in international context.