Baby boomer economic impacts to be addressed at AGSM forum

09 July 2007

The increasing retirement rate of the ‘baby boomer’ generation and subsequent impact to the Australian economy will be addressed at an AGSM seminar in July.

Professor John Piggott, Associate Dean (Research) from the Australian School of Business, and Bernard Salt, leading business advisor and Partner at financial services firm KPMG Australia, will discuss the financial consequences of an ageing population and the impact of this demographic transition to the economy.

Professor Piggott and Mr Salt will also discuss the fiscal impact of this trend, possible labour market repercussions, and challenges facing capital and insurance markets as they seek to adjust to a radically re-oriented economy, both nationally and regionally.

“Over the next two decades most baby boomers will retire, leaving an economy with an unprecedented proportion of retired individuals in its population, and with an ever-increasing number of very old, mostly women.

“The driving forces behind this phenomenon are the reduction in fertility beginning in the early 60s, and increasing longevity,” Professor Piggott said.

The panel discussion is part of AGSM’s Lifelong Learning Series. The series keeps AGSM alumni abreast of current business issues and provides them with networking opportunities.

Details of Lifelong Learning Event:
Event title: “The Economy and Demographic Shift.”
Date: 17th July, 2007.
Time: 6pm.
Venue: KPMG, Auditorium Ground Floor, 10 Shelley Street 2000 Sydney

Background information about the panelists:
John Piggott:
John Piggott, Associate Dean (Research) at the Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales, has served as Professor of Economics at UNSW since 1988. He holds a BA from the University of Sydney, and the MSc and PhD degrees from the University of London. Past appointments include research and teaching positions at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and at the Australian National University, Canberra. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1992.

Professor Piggott has a long-standing interest in issues relating to retirement and pension economics and finance. His publications include more than 80 journal articles and chapters in books, which have appeared in the leading international academic journals as well as in highly cited conference volumes. In addition, he has co- authored two books, both published by Cambridge University Press. The second of these, on mandatory pension saving, was released in late 2001. For some years he has had a policy and research interest in the evolving pension reform debate in the Asian region. For the last several years has been working on aging issues with the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, and he recently concluded an evaluation of World Bank assistance on pension reform in the Asian region for the Bank’s Operations Evaluation Department.

Bernard Salt:
Bernard Salt is a Partner of KPMG Australia based in Melbourne. Bernard holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts degrees and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He has established an enviable reputation as an advisor to leading property investors and developers on matters relating to market demand.

Bernard is however best known to Australian business for his commentary in the media on the business implications of demographic and social change. He is a columnist with The Australian and is the author of the popular best-selling book The Big Shift: Welcome to the Third Australian Culture. His most recent book The Big Picture was released in February 2006.

Bernard has appeared on television programs such as A Current Affair, Business Sunday, The Today Show, SBS Insight, Today Tonight and 60 Minutes.