24/08/2026
🌍What if ageing is not simply a demographic challenge—but a test of how we organise our economies and societies?
On 27 July, we brought together leading researchers, policymakers and practitioners at the The University of Tokyo / UTokyo for the Banque de France–Fondation France-Japon Lab Conference “Economics of Ageing” 🇯🇵🇫🇷
The conference marked the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year research programme launched in 2024, bringing together nearly 50 researchers and resulting in a special issue of the Journal of the Economics of Ageing featuring 17 articles.
Across the discussions, one message stood out: population ageing is a systemic transformation, not a challenge limited to pensions and healthcare. It is reshaping labour markets, productivity, public finances, migration, care, innovation and intergenerational relations.
The discussions also highlighted an important shift: the objective should not simply be to increase employment, but to improve the quality of jobs, make better use of human capital, support carers and create institutions adapted to longer life expectancy.
Japan offers a particularly valuable perspective—not because it is an exception, but because it provides an early view of challenges that many advanced economies will increasingly face.
A big thank you to all speakers, participants and partners who contributed to this rich exchange.
The conference was jointly organised by Banque de France, Tokyo College at the Université de Tokyo, the CARF / Center for Applied Research in Finance and Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS.
🇯🇵🇫🇷 Comparing experiences across countries is essential if we want to move from managing demographic change to designing societies that can thrive with it.
