ABSTRACT
National Transfer Accounts (NTA) were expressly developed to understand how people at every age affect and are affected by the economy. Economic models such as overlapping generations models and life-cycle models have been used to explore many important issues in the economics of ageing. NTA estimates provide detailed and comprehensive information to inform these and other models. This chapter introduces NTA. It presents the basic statistical framework drawing on recent estimates for the United States. It compares results from countries around the world that have implemented NTA. And it shows how NTA can be used to explore several issues, including the demographic dividend, the impact of old-age funding systems for consumption, and the impact of ageing on the demand for wealth needed to fund old-age systems.
