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On the Limits of Chronological Age

Rainer Kotschy et al.

Annual Review of Economics2025https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080824-112429article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.53

Abstract

Analysis of population aging is typically framed in terms of chronological age. However, chronological age itself is not necessarily deeply informative about the aging process. This article reviews literature and conducts empirical analyses aimed at investigating whether chronological age is a reliable proxy for physiological functioning when used in models of economic behavior and outcomes. We show that chronological age is an unreliable proxy for physiological functioning due to appreciable differences in how aging unfolds across people, health domains, and over time. We further demonstrate that chronological age either fails to predict economic variables when used in lieu of physiological functioning or predicts additional effects on economic behavior and outcomes that are largely unrelated to physiological aging. Continued reliance on chronological age as a proxy for physiological functioning might impede the ability of societies to fully harness the benefits of increasing longevity.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080824-112429

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@article{rainer2025,
  title        = {{On the Limits of Chronological Age}},
  author       = {Rainer Kotschy et al.},
  journal      = {Annual Review of Economics},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080824-112429},
}

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On the Limits of Chronological Age

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Evidence weight

0.53

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.70 × 0.15 = 0.10
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.