Pilot Projects | Project Supplements

Principal Investigator: Stephan DellaVigna

While we have extensive knowledge about the effects of demographic changes on social security, we know much less about other effects on the economy. This pilot will study the impact of demographic changes on consumer demand and on the stock market. Consumers in different age groups purchase different commodities; demand for goods is a function of age. As a consequence, changes in the demographic structure of the population induce demand shocks in the good's market. This project will test the prediction that, indeed, demographic changes induce changes in stock prices by industrial sector, using consumption data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey.