BooksRock.com - Kids Books At Amazing Low Prices!

Costa argues that the rise of retirement is the result of a culmination of historical trends initiated more than a century ago, not the consequence of abrupt social or institutional change. She attributes much of the long-term increase in retirement rates to steadily rising income, but argues that increased income is not the sole explanation. Over the course of this century, men's retirement decision has become less sensitive to increases or decreases in income, perhaps because retirement has become a time of discovery and personal fulfillment, rather than a time of withdrawal from activities and dependence on family.

Using statistical and demographic concepts, Costa explains trends in retirement data. Her examination sheds light on such important topics as rising incomes and retirement, work and disease, the job prospects of older workers, living arrangements of the elderly, the development of a retirement lifestyle, and pensions, and politics. She concludes with a look into the future and further evolution of retirement, addressing perhaps the most vexing problem of retirement policy, the impact of the aging Baby Boom generation on the Social Security System.