Ageing Studies from Global and East and Southeast Asia Perspectives: Economic Literature Review Based on the Web of Science

Abstract:Based on Web of Science records of ageing-related studies published during the 1900–2020 period, this article presents a review and comparison of economic studies on ageing in the global context and on the East and Southeast Asian economies. The analysis demonstrates that the global trend of these studies increasingly takes an interdisciplinary approach, and those on East and Southeast Asian economies have similarly expanded into various subdisciplines and covered more geographic locations. There are however gradual shifts in the focus of key areas of studies. Economic studies on ageing in East and Southeast Asian contexts are considerably less influential in that they are fewer in number and receive fewer citations. They also have a stronger emphasis on management efficiency, e.g. "operations research management science", but less on equitable management of relations in the workplace, such as industrial/labour relations. Overall, there are serious gaps in economic studies on ageing for the rapidly ageing societies in Asia, with respect to both geographic coverage and topical investigation.