Dr. Melanie Lührmann from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, has presented a guest lecture for the OIA Michaelmas Seminar Series on 11th November entitled: 'The Impact of long-run Population Dynamics on Aggregated UK Consumer Demand'
The lecture analysed the mechanisms through which the long-run population dynamics in the UK affect aggregate consumer demand.
As household-level composition of consumed goods and services varies over the life cycle due to changes in tastes, incomes and household composition, the aggregate demand structure is likely to change as well in reaction to a shift in the population age structure.The results point to a moderate impact of a shift in the population age structure alone. However, when the intergenerational distribution of expenditures shifts towards the older age groups, e.g. caused by income redistribution, substantial shifts in aggregate demand result. The shift is towards higher expenditure shares of health-related goods as well as towards household services and leisure goods & services.
Melanie Lührmann studied in Mannheim and Berkeley and received her PhD from the University of Mannheim. Her research interests are mainly in the study of consumer behaviour over the life cycle, economics of ageing, and intra-household decision-making. Melanie worked at the Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice as a Marie-Curie Scholar in the EU-funded Research Training Network Microdata Methods and Practice and at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) as a Research Economist from 2006 to 2008. She is an IFS Research associate and a fellow at the Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA). Melanie joined Royal Holloway as a lecturer in 2009. She is currently local organiser and deputy programme chair of the Royal Economic Society Conference 2011.
> Further information about Michealmas OIA 2010 Seminar Series
