How well older people make economic decisions is an important issue for social policy. Since wealth tends to accumulate over one’s lifetime, a large portion is in the hands of older people. Both long-term trends (increased longevity) and short-term trends (baby booms) mean that increasing proportions of the population are older and retired. Also, older people are more likely to vote than young people are, so they may have disproportionate political influence. It is conceivable that our scientific model of economic decision making, so heavily rooted in studies of 20-year-old students, is a misleading guide to the behavior of older people
