Old age, poverty and social investment

The paper examines two commonly held views on the relationship existing between old age and poverty in developing countries: that poverty is less pronounced among the old; and that poverty reduction programmes focused on the old have lower social payoffs than programmes aimed at the young. The paper argues that standard measures underestimate old age poverty, and that the evaluation of poverty programmes needs to take account of the economic contribution of the old and of positive externalities in old age support. It concludes that the low priority given to old age support in developing countries needs to be reconsidered. © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.