Reaction to the decline in the population: Japan, South Korea, Italy

Japan, South Korea and Italy are countries where the fertility rate is falling and where the population, and even more so the working-age population, will decline fairly rapidly. We examine the economic policy responses of these three countries to the decline in the population and the working-age population. This may include: Accepting very large-scale immigration, which in the long term will change the distribution of the population between native-born and immigrants ; Using technological progress, for example with a very high level of corporate automation; Raising the retirement age as much as possible. We see that Japan and South Korea have used investment in new technologies and automation, as well as raising the retirement age, to try to offset the effects of ageing. On the contrary, Italy has just decided to use immigration, with a fairly low retirement age and little investment in technology or automation.