Ció Patxot, UB School of Economics researcher, leads an international project on the socio-economic impact of the aging of the European population.

One of the objectives of the SUSTAINWELL project, led by the University of Barcelona and funded by the Horizon Europe programme is to explore policies that help the “sandwich generation” to s upport the baby boomers, who are now retiring, without lowering the fertility rate or reducing investment in education. The project will address the medium and long-term impact of an ageing society in terms of income redistribution.

SUSTAINWELL wants to measure the role of the market, government and the family in providing well-being throughout the life cycle. To achieve this, researchers will combine comparable European datasets and integrate them into a dynamic microsimulation projection. The main novelty is that the aim is to promote a life-cycle view of welfare policies considering the three possible forms of welfare provision: market, family and welfare state. Therefore, on the one hand, we will analyse how public policies affect key decisions (concerning education, fertility, work effort, domestic production, savings or retirement) and, on the other hand, we will study which decision-making processes lead to altruistic behaviour, which is beneficial for society as a whole.

This project aims to identify the opportunities arising from longer and healthier life expectancy; to study the resilient responses of individuals, households and other actors in an ageing society; to assess the impact of ageing on inequality; and to explore balanced gender and life-cycle policies to help sustain baby-boomers who are retiring or about to retire without reducing fertility or investment in education.

Population ageing is one of the main challenges facing European countries in the coming decades. In the last century, a profound demographic transition has taken European societies from high fertility and mortality rates to the exact opposite situation. This demographic change has multiple effects on societies, which have to adapt many of their structures to the new situation. Public spending on welfare policies such as pensions, healthcare, long-term care and education could be profoundly affected.

SUSTAINWELL supports the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which sets out several principles directly or indirectly related to areas affected by ageing, such as old age income and pensions, health and long-term care, social protection, work-life balance, compulsory education and lifelong learning.

The project takes a new multidisciplinary approach to different basic sciences (neuroscience) and social sciences (economics, demography, sociology and political science). It is a collaboration between fourteen partners from seven European countries, coordinated by Professor Concepció Patxot, from the UB’s Faculty of Economics and Business. Catalan institutions such as the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the La Caixa Foundation are also taking part in the project.

The project is funded by the uropean Commission’s Horizon Europe programme and has a duration of four years (February 2023 to January 2027).

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