Ageing without Ageism?

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Ageing without Ageism?
Ageing without Ageism?
Conceptual Puzzles and Policy Proposals

Edited by
Greg Bognar
&
Axel Gosseries
 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to colleagues who accepted to serve as referees for

the chapters of this volume, including Paula Gobbi, Soren Flinch Mitgaard, Holly
Lawford-Smith, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Jeffrey Moriarty, Pedro Pita Barros,
Daniel Sabbagh, Nenad Stojanovic, James Taylor, Pierre-Etienne Vandamme, and
Fabio Waltenberg. Many thanks also go to Dominic Byatt at Oxford University Press
for his support throughout the preparation of this book and to the OUP referees for
their very useful insights on our initial proposal.
The editors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Grant Agency
of the Czech Academy of Sciences through a project on ‘Taking Age Discrimination
Seriously’ (grant ID: 17-26629S, PI: Axel Gosseries) awarded to the Institute of State
and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Centre for Law and Public
Affairs (CeLAPA), created under subsidies for a long-term conceptual development
(RVO: 68378122).
Contents

List of Figures viii

List of Tables ix
List of Contributors x

Introduction 1
Greg Bognar and Axel Gosseries

PART I. CONCEPTUAL PUZZLES

1. Age Discrimination: Is It Special? Is It Wrong? 13

Katharina Berndt Rasmussen
2. Does the Badness of Disability Differ from that of Old Age? 28
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen
3. In Defence of Age-Differentiated Paternalism 41
Viki Møller Lyngby Pedersen
4. Age and the Social Value of Risk Reduction: Three Perspectives 53
Matthew D. Adler
5. Can Egalitarians Justify Spending More on the Elderly? 71
Paul Bou-Habib
6. Age Limits and the Significance of Entire Lives Egalitarianism 82
Axel Gosseries
7. Age Universalism Will Benefit All (Ages) 94
Simon Birnbaum and Kenneth Nelson

PART II. POLICY PROPOSALS

8. ‘Let Them Be Children?’: Age Limits in Voting and
Conceptions of Childhood 115
Anca Gheaus
9. Age and the Voting–Driving Analogy 128
Alexandru Volacu
10. Empowering Future People by Empowering the Young? 143
Tyler M. John
 Contents vii

11. COVID-19, Age, and Rationing 159

Greg Bognar
12. Ageism in Assisted Reproduction 172
Francesca Minerva
13. An Education Resource Account for Early School Leavers 184
Andrée-Anne Cormier and Harry Brighouse
14. Differentiating Retirement Age to Compensate for
Health and Longevity Inequality? 199
Vincent Vandenberghe
15. Ageing in Place and Autonomy: Is the ‘Age-Friendly’ City
Initiative Too Elderly-Friendly? 214
Kim Angell
16. An Age-Based Delayed Housing Wealth Tax 229
Daniel Halliday
17. Two Types of Age-Sensitive Taxation 242
Manuel Sá Valente
18. An Age-Differentiated Tax on Bequests 254
Pierre Pestieau and Gregory Ponthiere

Index 267
List of Figures

4.1 A prioritarian transformation function 57

7.1 Age-related profiles of social insurance income replacement (country group
averages 1990–2015) 101
7.2 Age-balance of income replacement in social insurance by type of generational
welfare contract in 18 OECD countries, 1990–2015 102
7.3 Income replacement in social insurance for three age-related social risks in
Japan, Norway, and Sweden, 1960–2015 103
14.1 Differentiated retirement ages equalizing (expected) ill health across and
within countries 206
14.2 Difficulty of differentiating ex post (importance of type-E and type-F errors).
The case of low-educated versus highly educated females aged 55–65 in
Germany (DEU), France (FRA), Belgium (BEL), and Poland (POL) 209
17.1 Standard and proposed distribution of income (full line) and tax rates (dotted
line) 247
List of Tables

1.1 Four forms of discrimination with age-related examples 20

4.1 Current-year incomes of the 35 groups 59
4.2 Utilitarian value of increase ∆p in current-year survival probability (relative to
utilitarian value of that increase for 80-year-old, low-income group) 61
4.3 CBA value of increase ∆p in current-year survival probability (relative to CBA
value of that increase for 80-year-old, low-income group) 63
4.4 Prioritarian value of increase ∆p in current-year survival probability (relative
to prioritarian value of that increase for 80-year-old, low-income group) 65
4.5 COVID-19 infection fatality risk (IFR) 66
4.6 Utilitarian social value of vaccination 67
4.7 CBA social value of vaccination 67
4.8 Prioritarian social value of vaccination 68
7.1 Type of generational profile in age-related social insurance and selected
outcomes in 18 OECD countries 104
7.A1 Variables included in the empirical analyses: Childhood risk category by
country, averages for the period 1990–2015 107
7.A2 Variables included in the empirical analyses: Working age risk category by
country, averages for the period 1990–2015 108
7.A3 Variables included in the empirical analyses: Old age risk category by country,
averages for the period 1990–2015 109
11.1 Four patients 162
14.1 Health items: Subjective health 203
14.2 Health items: Objective conditions 204
14.3 Differentiated retirement ages equalizing ill health (international reference =
67): Between- and within-country differentiation 207
List of Contributors
Matthew D. Adler, Richard A. Horvitz
Professor of Law and Professor of
Economics, Philosophy, and Public Policy,
Duke University
Kim Angell, Department of Philosophy,
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Katharina Berndt Rasmussen, Department
of Philosophy, Stockholm University, and
Institute for Futures Studies
Simon Birnbaum, Department of Political
Science, Södertörn University
Greg Bognar, Department of Philosophy,
Stockholm University
Paul Bou-Habib, Department of
Government, University of Essex
Harry Brighouse, Department of
Philosophy, University of Wisconsin,
Madison
Andrée-Anne Cormier, Department of
Philosophy, York University, Glendon
College
Anca Gheaus, Department of Political
Science, Central European University
Axel Gosseries, Fonds de la Recherche
Scientifique (FNRS) and Hoover Chair in
Economic and Social Ethics, University of
Louvain (UCLouvain)
Daniel Halliday, School of Historical and
Philosophical Studies, University of
Melbourne
Tyler M. John, Department of Philosophy,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Centre for the
Experimental-Philosophical Study of
Discrimination (CEPDISC), Aarhus
University, and Department of Philosophy,
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Francesca Minerva, Department of
Philosophy, University of Milan
Viki Møller Lyngby Pedersen, Centre for
the Experimental-Philosophical Study of
Discrimination (CEPDISC), Department of
Political Science, Aarhus University
Kenneth Nelson, Swedish Institute for
Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm
University
Pierre Pestieau, Université de Liège; Center
for Operational Research and Econometrics
(CORE, UCLouvain); Paris School of
Economics
Gregory Ponthiere, Hoover Chair in
Economic and Social Ethics, University of
Louvain (UCLouvain)
Manuel Sá Valente, Hoover Chair in
Economic and Social Ethics and Superior
Institute of Philosophy, University of
Louvain (UCLouvain)
Vincent Vandenberghe, Institute of
Economic and Social Research (IRES),
Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and
Modeling in Economics and Statistics
(LIDAM), University of Louvain
(UCLouvain)
Alexandru Volacu, Faculty of Business and
Administration, University of Bucharest
Introduction
Greg Bognar and Axel Gosseries

This book aims to contribute to the essential and timely discussion on age, ageism,
population ageing, and public policy. It attempts to demonstrate the breadth of the
challenges by covering a wide range of policy areas from health care to old-age
support, from democratic participation to education, from family to fiscal policy.
It bridges the distance between academia and public life by putting into dialogue
fresh philosophical analyses and new specific policy proposals. It approaches famil-
iar issues such as age discrimination, justice between age groups, and democratic
participation across the ages from novel perspectives.
Our societies continue to rely extensively on age criteria, despite the fact that con-
cern for age discrimination is not new. The US Age Discrimination in Employment
Act was adopted as far back as 1967. In Europe, age has been increasingly included in
anti-discrimination legislation over the past several decades. Legal scholars, sociolo-
gists, anthropologists, and other social scientists have long studied how age structures
our lives. Children studies and gerontology are vast and well-established fields of
scholarship. Yet, with few exceptions, practical philosophers have been less active
than researchers from other disciplines on the age front.1 This book aims especially
to contribute to filling this gap, in dialogue with other disciplines.
Two trends in particular render this a timely exercise. One is the ongoing process
of critically scrutinizing our societies through the prism of race, gender, disability,
and other categories. This calls for looking at whether age is different—whether it
is unique or, as it is sometimes put, ‘special’ from a normative perspective. Can this
explain that it tends to get less attention than other social categories? Should we worry
less about differential treatment on grounds of age than about differential treatment
based on race or gender? And if so, what are the difference-makers that render age
special from a normative perspective?
The other trend that warrants a closer look at age is the ageing of our societies.
Fifteen years ago, fewer than 500 million people were 65 or older. In 2030, there will
be more than one billion people over 65, and by 2050, there will be around 1.5 billion.2
During the past decade, the number of older people surpassed the number of children
under five for the first time in human history.3 In 2015, Japan was the only country
that had more than 30 per cent of its population made up by those over 60; by 2050,
this will become the case in all developed countries, including China.⁴

1 See, e.g. Daniels (1998), McKerlie (2013) or Bidadanure (2021).

2 See National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (US) (2007).
3 See National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (US) and the WHO (2011).
⁴ See WHO (2015).

Greg Bognar and Axel Gosseries, Introduction. In: Ageing without Ageism?. Edited by Greg Bognar & Axel Gosseries, Oxford
University Press. © Greg Bognar and Axel Gosseries (2023). DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192894090.003.0001
2 Introduction

Population ageing presents enormous challenges. Ageing societies will have to

make massive adjustments to their old-age support and healthcare systems, their
labour markets, and their social and political institutions. Population ageing will have
profound effects on family life, the nature of work, politics, and people’s life plans.
With no historical experience to rely on, societies will have to try untested, novel,
and creative ways for coping with the challenges of ageing. And they must be able to
provide ethical justifications for their choices.
Our aim is to provide a multidisciplinary discussion, with contributions especially
from philosophy but also inputs from political science, economics, sociology, and
other areas. In order to impose some order on a wide-ranging collection of topics, we
divided the book into two parts. The chapters in Part I present in-depth discussions
of conceptual and normative issues. The chapters in Part II defend specific policy
proposals, grounded in explicit normative arguments. Readers interested in concep-
tual issues can begin at the beginning; readers more interested in policy alternatives
can pick one of the chapters from Part II as their entry point. To help orientation, we
provide separate overviews of the two parts below.

1. Overview of Part I

Part I departs from the fundamental normative question about age. Is unequal treat-
ment on the basis of age permissible? How does it differ, from an ethical point of view,
from other forms of differential treatment? Age discrimination has been a neglected
area in the literature on wrongful discrimination in philosophy and legal theory. The
first three chapters aim to fill some of the gaps by approaching the fundamental nor-
mative question from different directions. What do different theories of wrongful
discrimination have to say about the wrongness of age discrimination specifically?
How is age discrimination connected to disability discrimination? How should we
think about the link between paternalism and age?
In the opening chapter of Part I (‘Age Discrimination: Is It Special? Is It Wrong?’),
Katharina Berndt Rasmussen examines the morality of age discrimination by bring-
ing together philosophical theories of wrongful discrimination and accounts of the
‘specialness’ of age—that is, defences of the claim that there is a moral difference
between discrimination on the basis of age and discrimination on other grounds such
as gender or race. After providing an overview of considerations that might make
age special, Berndt Rasmussen offers a taxonomy of different forms of age discrimi-
nation and relates them to three theories of wrongful discrimination. She finds that
these three theories differ with respect to their moral assessment of various forms
of age discrimination due to the different roles that ‘specialness’ considerations play
in each. Rather than arguing for any particular theory, however, Berndt Rasmussen
concludes by offering a template for identifying, analysing, and morally evaluating
different forms of age discrimination.
 Ageing without Ageism? 3

In the second chapter, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen compares age discrimination

and disability discrimination (‘Does the Badness of Disability Differ from that of Old
Age?’). He begins with a familiar question from the philosophy of disability: to the
extent that being disabled is worse than being non-disabled, is this largely because of
factors that are independent of the social environment (the ‘disability as bad differ-
ence’ view) or largely because of the (ableist) nature of the social environment (the
‘disability as mere difference’ view)? Correspondingly, we might ask, to the extent
that being old is worse than being young, is this largely because of factors that are
independent of the social environment or largely because of the (ageist) nature of the
social environment? Are the answers to these questions related? If they are, how?
Lippert-Rasmussen considers whether, if we are inclined to accept the view that
the disadvantages of disability are largely caused by an ableist social environment,
we should also accept the view that the disadvantages of old age are largely caused by
an ageist social environment. He thinks we should. But Lippert-Rasmussen argues
that the view that ageist social environments are primarily responsible for the dis-
advantages of old age should be rejected. Therefore, we should also reject the view
that ableist social environments are primarily responsible for the disadvantages of
disability. Yet, while insisting that our views on disability constrain those we adopt
on age, Lippert-Rasmussen also stresses that we should not overstate the impor-
tance of taking a stance on the mere-difference and bad-difference divide. Rather,
we should pay more attention to the specific ways old age and disability cause disad-
vantage instead of trying to defend broad generalizations about what family of causes
predominates.
The third chapter examines age discrimination from the perspective of age-
differentiated paternalism. Many of us share the intuition that paternalism is less
problematic when applied to children rather than to the elderly. One interest of Viki
Møller Lyngby Pedersen’s chapter, ‘In Defence of Age-Differentiated Paternalism’, is
that she stresses that we need to consider not only the dimensions of competence and
voluntariness but also the magnitude of the good promoted by paternalistic interven-
tions. While this dual account does not generally challenge common-sense intuitions
about paternalism, it introduces additional complexity when evaluating paternalistic
interventions in a wide range of cases. The chapter considers many examples, from
age-differentiated rules for access to sterilization, through age-differentiated fines for
not using a helmet, to age-differentiated prices for cigarettes. Readers especially inter-
ested in these issues may also want to take a look at Chapter 8 (on paternalism and
conceptions of childhood), Chapter 12 (on paternalism in assisted reproduction and
social freezing), or Chapter 13 (on anti-paternalism in compulsory education).
The remaining chapters in Part I take up issues of distributive justice. They con-
sider the connection between age and different methods of policy evaluation. They
examine the role of age in egalitarian theories of distributive justice. They ask whether
it is justified that modern welfare states spend more on the elderly than on other age
groups, explore the implications of the idea that principles of distributive equality
4 Introduction

should apply to whole lives rather than particular segments (or stages) in life, and
defend the view that social insurance systems should be age-balanced, offering
similar levels of income replacement across age-related social risks.
In ‘Age and the Social Value of Risk Reduction: Three Perspectives’, Matthew D.
Adler compares three frameworks of policy analysis from the perspective of fatality
risk reduction for different age groups. Do they imply that the value of risk reduction
depends on age—and how do they relate age to other factors? The three frameworks
are utilitarianism, prioritarianism, and cost–benefit analysis.
Adler finds that the value of risk reduction decreases with age but increases with
income according to utilitarianism. It decreases even more sharply with age accord-
ing to prioritarianism, but prioritarianism can also neutralize the effect of income.
And for cost–benefit analysis, the value of risk reduction increases with income even
more sharply than for utilitarianism, while it first increases and than decreases with
increasing age. None of the frameworks, therefore, is neutral with respect to age. They
value fatality risk reduction differently depending on a person’s age (and income).
Prioritarianism is the only approach that can neutralize the effect of income and put
higher value of reducing risks to the young. That may be an attractive feature.
Paul Bou-Habib, in his chapter ‘Can Egalitarians Justify Spending More on the
Elderly?’, takes an egalitarian approach to age and fair distribution. He argues that
the fact that modern welfare states devote a disproportionate amount of their budget
to the needs of the elderly raises a puzzle. People who reach old age are often, on the
whole, more fortunate than those who don’t because they have enjoyed a longer life.
In devoting disproportionate expenditure towards their needs, the welfare state thus
appears to be privileging the needs of those who are more fortunate than others.
Bou-Habib examines the response to this puzzle provided by relational egalitari-
ans (who hold that we should care not only about how the welfare state distributes
resources between persons but also about whether it protects people from mistreat-
ment by others). Relational egalitarians justify disproportionate expenditure on the
elderly on the grounds that it is necessary to protect them against domination and
marginalization, among other forms of mistreatment. But Bou-Habib finds that the
relational egalitarian response does not solve the puzzle. He proposes a different solu-
tion, based on two claims. First, suffering is intrinsically bad and should be prevented,
even when it is experienced by persons who are more fortunate than others. Second,
disproportionate expenditure on the needs of the elderly is a form of insurance that
all persons would have purchased in fair circumstances.
In his chapter, ‘Age Limits and the Significance of Entire-Lives Egalitarianism’,
Axel Gosseries focuses on the claim that principles of distributive justice should be
applied to whole lives—that is, to determine what we owe to people as a matter of fair
distribution, we need to consider how they fare during their entire lives. Gosseries
provides an overview of the entire life view and explores its possible underlying intu-
itions. He separates a defensive version of the view (which argues that some age limits
are not objectionable) from an affirmative one (which argues that some age limits are
actually desirable). He concludes that while age limits tend to provide one of the best
illustrations of the practical relevance of the ‘entire life’ debate, the latter does not
 Ageing without Ageism? 5

necessarily offer us insights that are as significant as expected to defend age limits
over their whole range.
Part I closes with a more empirically orientated chapter. It starts with the obser-
vation that welfare states differ greatly in the extent to which they provide social
protection for various age-related social risks. They set different priorities between
needs associated with childhood, maturity, and old age. In ‘Age Universalism will
Benefit All (Ages)’, Simon Birnbaum and Kenneth Nelson explore and defend the
ideal of age universalism in social insurance, according to which the degree of income
replacement should be similar across age-related social risks. The argument suggests
pragmatic advantages of age-balanced social insurance, showing that it tends to pro-
vide higher levels of income replacement for age-related risks throughout the life
cycle and achieve more favourable social outcomes in all age groups with respect to
poverty rates, trust, and subjective well-being.

2. Overview of Part II

The chapters in Part II have a more policy-oriented focus. They cover a range of top-
ics from different perspectives. The topics include political participation, education,
health care, retirement, and old-age social services as well as taxation and inheritance.
The first cluster of chapters is on political participation and voting rights. The
chapters address whether and how disenfranchising the young can be justified on
the basis of different conceptions of childhood, whether the voting–driving analogy
can justify disenfranchising the old, and whether giving extra weight to the young
in political decision-making can be a plausible avenue to addressing concerns about
political short-termism.
In the first chapter, ‘“Let Them Be Children”? Age Limits in Voting and Concep-
tions of Childhood’, Anca Gheaus explores alternative views about the nature and
value of childhood and their relevance to the issue of children’s voting rights. In par-
ticular, she contrasts one view that regards childhood as a mere deficiency and as
preparation time for adulthood with a family of views that emphasizes the value of
goods unique to childhood, such as playfulness and carefreeness. Defenders of defi-
ciency views tend to assume that the lack of agency is an unqualified bad for children
and neglect ways in which childhood allows access to other sources of value.
Gheaus maps out how the different accounts bear on arguments for and against
enfranchising children. She also explains why children who live in a society in
which many adults fail to comply with their duties of intergenerational justice have
a weightier interest in voting and hence why the case for children’s enfranchisement
is stronger in such circumstances.
The next chapter continues to explore political participation by looking at the
other end of life. Should there be an age limit such that people over it lose their eli-
gibility to vote? After all, loss of ability is often used to justify restricting people’s
freedom. For instance, age-related loss of ability is used to justify the requirement
of periodic renewal of driving licences and could result in the loss of driving permit
6 Introduction

for the elderly, limiting their freedom of movement. Can there be an analogous case
for voting? In ‘Age and the Voting–Driving Analogy’, Alexandru Volacu asks this
question. He examines arguments by analogy in general and formulates such an argu-
ment linking driving and voting. He considers different ways the argument could be
applied to age-adjusted voting rights. However, in the end, he finds that there are sig-
nificant dissimilarities between driving and voting. Thus, Volacu concludes that the
argument is unsuccessful.
In ‘Empowering Future People by Empowering the Young?’, Tyler M. John argues
that the state is plagued with problems of political short-termism: excessive priority
given to near-term benefits at the expense of benefits further in the future. Political
scientists and economists reckon that political leaders rarely look beyond the next
2–5 years, exacerbating problems such as climate change and pandemics. What can
be done to counter this? One possible mechanism involves apportioning greater rel-
ative political influence to the young. The idea is that younger citizens generally have
greater additional life expectancy than older citizens, and thus it looks reasonable to
expect that they have preferences that are extended further into the future. If we give
greater relative political influence to the young, our political system might exhibit
greater concern for the future.
But John shows that giving greater political power to the young is unlikely in
itself to make states significantly less short-termist: no empirical relationship has
been found between age and willingness to support long-termist policies. Instead, he
proposes a more promising age-based mechanism. States should develop youth citi-
zens’ assemblies that ensure accountability to future generations through a scheme of
retrospective accountability. Policymakers would be rewarded in the future in pro-
portion to the effects of their policies on the long run. This would incentivize them
now to choose policies that have the best long-term consequences.
The second couple of chapters in Part II are on health care. The first is Greg Bog-
nar’s chapter on ‘COVID-19, Age, and Rationing’. During the COVID-19 pandemic,
some hospitals found themselves short of ventilators, intensive care unit (ICU) beds,
and qualified medical personnel to take care of patients. Physicians had to make
difficult, life-and-death choices. They were aided by various guidelines and recom-
mendations issued by governments and medical associations. Bognar reviews some
of these guidelines, looking in particular at the role of age and life expectancy as cri-
teria for the rationing of healthcare resources. He defends the view that the ethical
aim of triage should be to maximize benefits and concludes that while neither age
nor life expectancy should be used to categorically exclude patients, both may have
a role in triage by virtue of their connection to capacity to benefit.
Francesca Minerva’s chapter, ‘Ageism in Assisted Reproduction’, begins from the
fact that female fertility declines at a much faster rate than male fertility. While, in the
past decades, assisted reproduction treatments (ARTs) have dramatically increased
women’s chances of getting pregnant over the age of 35, it remains very difficult for
women above their mid-40s to get pregnant, given that ART success rates decrease
with increasing age. Moreover, many European countries legally prevent women over
the age of 45 from accessing ARTs.
 Ageing without Ageism? 7

Minerva opposes upper age limits on ARTs for women, rejecting three arguments
that are based, respectively, on paternalism (to protect the mother’s health), the link
between age and increased risk of abnormalities for the child, and the diminished
ability of older parents to take care of children. She also calls for a more pro-active
policy, including free access to social freezing and investment in research into ways
of delaying menopause.
In the following chapter, Andrée-Anne Cormier and Harry Brighouse propose ‘An
Education Resource Account for Early School Leavers’. They argue that school should
cease to be compulsory at age 16 and that an education resource account (ERA)
should be established for students who leave school at that age. The ERA would be
sufficient to cover three years of full-time education. It could be linked to inflation
and early school leavers could use it in accredited non-profit educational institutions
at any later point in their lives.
Two sets of arguments support their proposal. The first, building on the empir-
ical literature, focuses on efficiency and highlights the advantages of an ERA with
respect to the ‘disruptive’ students issue in particular. The second set of arguments is
anti-paternalistic. Cormier and Brighouse distinguish three anti-paternalistic argu-
ments: the view that individuals are the best judges of their own welfare (also
discussed in Chapter 3), the idea that autonomous decision-making is a com-
ponent of well-being, and a respect-based view of what renders anti-paternalism
wrong. While they endorse the latter two arguments, their ERA proposal still has
a mildly paternalistic dimension since its funds can only be used for education
purposes.
Vincent Vandenberghe takes up the issue of retirement in ‘Differentiating Retire-
ment Age to Compensate for Health and Longevity Inequality’. As he points out,
usually a uniform age is used to proxy work capacity loss and trigger the payment
of pensions. Recently, however, some have argued that we need several retirement
ages to better match the distribution of work (in)capacity across socio-demographic
groups. At first sight, this proposal makes perfect sense. Work capacity declines
faster among low-income and low-educated individuals. But there is also a lot of
unaccounted heterogeneity even inside narrowly defined socio-economic groups.
And this compromises the feasibility and desirability of retirement-age differenti-
ation. Under a regime of systematic retirement-age differentiation, there would be
many situations with no retirement for people with serious work restrictions and,
simultaneously, numerous cases where entirely healthy people enjoy retirement. An
alternative approach would be to stick to a uniform retirement age, backed up by a
reinforced disability scheme.
Old age also takes centre stage in Kim Angell’s ‘Ageing in Place and Autonomy: Is
the “Age-Friendly” City Initiative Too Elderly-Friendly?’ Angell is concerned with the
‘age-friendly cities’ initiative aimed at enhancing people’s opportunity to age in place.
He presents an autonomy-based defence of the idea and examines the moral claim
that the elderly can make in support of their ability to age in place. He emphasizes,
among other considerations, that ageing in place can have cognitive benefits through
the routines and habits made possible by familiar environments.
8 Introduction

He argues, however, that the claims of the elderly can come into conflict with the
claims of the young. We should not only look at today’s elderly but also anticipate how
today’s young will fare when they get old. Angell appeals to the cohort-specific predic-
tions by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)—
such that, for example, today’s young are expected to be worse off when old than the
currently old—to make the case for an ‘all-age-friendly’ (or even ‘young-friendly’)
interpretation of the age-friendly cities initiative, while also insisting on the impor-
tance of policies benefiting low-income families (regardless of age) and promoting
intergenerational housing initiatives.
The last cluster of chapters in the book focuses on age and taxation, looking
respectively at housing, income, and bequests.
In his chapter, ‘An Age-Based Delayed Housing Wealth Tax’, Daniel Halliday
considers taxation and housing wealth. Popular narratives around ageing and inter-
generational inequality suggest that young people increasingly tend to subsidize older
people in spite of enjoying poorer economic prospects. One specific concern is that
older and younger birth cohorts are unequally situated with respect to the distribu-
tion of housing wealth as well as the distribution of the tax burden. Halliday addresses
this concern by proposing an age-based delayed housing wealth tax. The idea is that
once homeowners reach a certain age, they are charged some portion of their home’s
value on an annual basis, which would eventually be paid to the tax office upon the
death of the surviving spouse. This tax can be avoided by downsizing to a home
of lesser value and thereby freeing up housing to be purchased by younger people.
Retaining a valuable home means, instead, incurring a tax liability that can be used to
fund the benefits consumed by retirees. A delayed housing wealth tax can be designed
to accommodate variables such as couples who differ in age or single retired home-
owners. Halliday argues that his proposal compares favourably with alternatives, such
as inheritance taxation, for getting older people to absorb the costs of their care. Just
as in the previous chapter, access to housing for the young is a central concern.
In his chapter, Manuel Sá Valente distinguishes between ‘Two Types of Age-
Sensitive Taxation’. One is a form of cumulative income taxation which taxes annual
income, taking into account all earlier income years instead of just the last one. The
other is an explicitly age-differentiated scheme that taxes annual income adjusted
by a rate that depends on the taxpayer’s age. The chapter first presents reasons
to support cumulative income taxation and examines how it would affect fiscal
obligations across life. Then, it argues that maximin egalitarians—that is, egalitarians
who give absolute priority to improving the situation of the least well off—should
aim at a hump-shaped tax rate across people’s lives. Such a rate reflects a concern
about both early death and poverty in old age, hence focusing on the young and
the elderly, not the middle-aged. The chapter questions whether cumulative income
taxes can deliver this result without resorting to explicitly age-differentiated taxes. It
reaches the conclusion that while cumulative income taxation can benefit the young
(including the short-lived among them), age-differentiated taxes are necessary to
protect the elderly poor.
In the final chapter, Pierre Pestieau and Gregory Ponthiere present four argu-
ments supporting ‘An Age-Differentiated Tax on Bequests’—that is, a tax rate on
 Ageing without Ageism? 9

inheritance that varies with the age of the deceased. The arguments are based on
different ethical foundations and lead to an inheritance tax that can either increase
or decrease with the age of the deceased. Pestieau and Ponthiere make the case for an
age-differentiated tax based on the idea of compensating unlucky prematurely dead
persons. Their view supports a bequest tax that increases with the age of the deceased.
Along with Chapters 5 and 17, their chapter illustrates the many normative problems
that differential longevity raises.
∗∗∗
Together, these chapters provide us with a sense of the complexity of the issues at
stake. The account we accept about the wrongness of discrimination makes a differ-
ence to which age-based policies can be defended. So does the view of paternalism
we take and, more generally, the background theory of justice we endorse. It mat-
ters whether we consider differential longevity unfair, whether we are concerned
with equality between entire lives or parts of lives, whether we hold that differen-
tial treatment by age is relevantly similar to unequal treatment by race, gender, or
disability. The justification of age-based policies can be affected by a multitude of
seemingly remote normative commitments and ideas. In addition, it is influenced by
empirical assumptions about age and ageing. Several chapters in this book have criti-
cally discussed such assumptions, including the connection of age to specific abilities
(for instance, working capacity or political competence), characteristics (for instance,
fertility) or dispositions (for instance, long-termist preferences).
All this suggests that it is probably wise to renounce the quest for a unified view
of the normative relevance of age. The role of age is likely to remain different in dif-
ferent policy areas and in different policies within those areas. This means that we
are left with several tasks. We should keep critically investigating the degree to which
specific age-based policies can be justified. When we develop and debate new poli-
cies, we should continuously keep in mind how they are affected by age and how they
would affect different age groups. We should keep unveiling common patterns of jus-
tification that operate across several domains and that oppose or support age-based
practices. Behind all that, there is the question whether there should be a society
on the horizon in which age loses its structuring function: where people can work
before studying, retire before starting to work, or have children well after having
started their professional career. We hope that this book will contribute to helping
the reader decide whether such a society would not only be feasible but also, and
more importantly, desirable.

References

Bidadanure, Juliana Uhuru. 2021. Justice Across Ages: Treating Young and Old as Equals.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Daniels, Norman. 1998. Am I My Parents’ Keeper? An Essay on Justice between the Young
and the Old. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Another random document with
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 Making a Coasting Toboggan
By A. M. PARKER

Essentials of a good toboggan, whether for coasting or use in

transportation, are strength and lightness, and when it is to be
made in the home shop, the construction must be simple. That
shown in the illustration, and detailed in the working sketches, was
designed to meet these requirements. The materials for the
toboggan proper and the forms over which it is bent, may be
obtained at small expense.
Smoothness of finished surface, freedom from tendency to
splinter, and ability to stand up under abuse being requisite qualities
in the wood used to make a toboggan, three varieties may be
mentioned in their order of merit: hickory, birch, and oak. Birch is
softer than hickory and easily splintered, but acquires an excellent
polish on the bottom. Oak stands bending well, but does not become
as smooth on the running surface as close-grained woods. Do not
use quarter-sawed oak because of the cross-grain flakes in its
structure.
While the best toboggan is made of a single board, both the
securing of material and its construction are rather difficult. Narrow
strips are easily bent to shape, but do not make a durable article. A
toboggan made of four boards is practical. The mill bill for one 7¹⁄₂ ft.
long by 16 in. wide and for the bending frame, is as follows:
4 pieces, ⁵⁄₁₆ by 4 in. by 10 ft., hard wood.
7 „ 1 by 1 in. by 16 in., „ „
2 „ ¹⁄₂ by 1 in. by 16 in., „ „
2 „ 1 by 6 in. by 6 ft., common boards.
6 „ 1 by 2 in. by 18 in., „ „
1 cylindrical block, 12 in. diameter by 18 in. long.
 This Toboggan Is Strong and Light; It will
afford the Maker Much Pleasure Both in the
Interesting Process of Construction and in
the Use for Coasting or Transportation. It
may be Made as an Individual Project or as
a Joint Undertaking by Several Boys

The form for the bending of the pieces is made of the common
boards and the block. A block sawed from the end of a dry log is
excellent. Heat it, if convenient, just before bending the strips. The
boards for the bottom should be selected for straightness of grain
and freedom from knots and burls. Carefully plane the side intended
for the wearing surface, and bevel the edges so that, when placed
together, they form a wide “V” joint, half the depth of the boards. The
1 by 1-in. pieces are for cross cleats and should be notched on one
side, 1 in. from each end, to receive the side ropes. The two ¹⁄₂ by 1-
in. pieces are to be placed one at each side of the extreme end of
the bent portion, to reinforce it.

The Boards for the Bottom are Steamed or Boiled at the Bow Ends and Bent
over the Form. As the Bending Operation Progresses, the Boards are Nailed
to the Form with Cleats, and Permitted to Dry in This Position

Bore a gimlet hole through the centers of the 1 by 2 by 18-in

pieces, and 4¹⁄₄ in. each side of this hole, bore two others. Nail the
end of one of the 6-ft. boards to each end of the block, so that their
extended ends are parallel. With 3-in. nails, fasten one of the bored
pieces to the block between the boards, inserting, temporarily, a ¹⁄₂-
in. piece to hold it out that distance from the block.
Steam about 3 ft. of the ends of the boards, or boil them in a tank.
Clamp, or nail, the boards together, at the dry ends, edge to edge,
between two of the 1 by 2-in. pieces, leaving about ¹⁄₄-in. opening
between boards. Thrust the steamed ends under the cleat nailed on
the block, the nails which hold it slipping up between the boards.
Bear down on the toboggan carefully, nailing on another of the bored
cleats, when the toboggan boards have been curved around the
block as far as the floor will permit. The nails, of course, go between
the boards.
Now, turn the construction over and bend up the toboggan,
following the boards around the block with more of the nailed cleats,
until the clamped end is down between the two 6-ft. boards, where it
can be held by a piece nailed across. More of the cleats may be
nailed on if desired; in fact, the closer together the cleats are the less
danger there is of splintering the boards, and the more perfect the
conformity of the boards to the mold.
Allow at least four days for drying before removing the boards from
the form. Clamp the ¹⁄₂ by 1-in. pieces one each side of the extreme
ends of the bent bows, drill holes through, and rivet them. A 1 by 1-
in. crossbar is riveted to the inside of the bow at the extreme front
and another directly under the extremity of the curved end. These
cleats are wired together to hold the bend of the bow. The tail end
crossbar should be placed not nearer than 2¹⁄₂ in. from the end of the
boards, while the remainder of the crossbars are evenly spaced
between the front and back pieces, taking care that the notched side
is always placed down. Trim off uneven ends, scrape and sandpaper
the bottom well, and finish the toboggan with oil. Run a ³⁄₈-in. rope
through the notches under the ends of the cross pieces, and the
toboggan is completed.
Screws are satisfactory substitutes for rivets in fastening together
the parts, and wire nails, of a length to allow for about ¹⁄₄-in. clinch,
give a fair job. Indians overcome the lack of hardware by the use of
rawhide, laced through diagonally staggered holes bored through the
crosspieces and bottom boards. Rawhide, which they sometimes
stretch over the bow as a protection, affords an opportunity for
elaborate ornamentation.
 Wooden Lock with Combination Key

This Lock is Made Entirely of Wood and cannot be Picked Easily

The lock shown in the sketch and detailed drawings is made

entirely of wood, and it is nearly impossible to pick or open it without
the use of the key. The casing of the lock is 5 by 5 in. and 1 in. thick,
of hard wood, oak being suitable for this as well as for the other
parts. Three tumblers, a bolt, and a keeper are required. The key is
shown inserted, indicating how the tumblers are raised by it. The bolt
is slotted and a screw placed through it to prevent it from being
moved too far. The lock and keeper are bolted into place on a door
with carriage bolts, the heads being placed on the outer side.
The Details of Construction must be Observed Carefully and the Parts Made
Accurately to Insure Satisfactory Operation

The detailed drawing shows the parts, together with the

dimensions of each, which must be followed closely.
The lock casing is grooved with two grooves, extending the length
of the grain and connected by open mortises, all ¹⁄₂ in. in depth. The
spacing of the mortises and the grooves is shown in the views of the
casing. Three tumblers, ¹⁄₂ in. square and 2¹⁄₂ in. long, are required.
The bolt is ¹⁄₂ by 1 by 8 in., and the key ¹⁄₄ by ³⁄₄ by 5¹⁄₂ in., and
notched as shown. All the parts of the lock must be fitted carefully,
sandpapered smooth, and oiled to give a finish that will aid in the
operation, as well as protect the wood. Aside from its practical use,
this lock is interesting as a piece of mechanical construction.—B.
Francis Dashiell, Baltimore, Md.
 Variety of Uses for an Electric Iron

A milliner, in addition to using her electric iron for ordinary

purposes of ironing and pressing, inverts it between two hollow tiles
and thus makes use of it in steaming velvet trimmmings. The tiles
not only hold the iron securely in this position, but also insulate it
from overheating or scorching adjoining objects or surfaces. The iron
is also used inverted for heating water, cooking coffee, and other
liquids, as well as in providing a warm lunch.
 Renewing Dry Batteries with Sal Ammoniac

Finding that dry batteries had increased in price, and requiring a

number for experimental purposes, I devised the following method
by which I was able to use the old batteries for a considerable
period: When the dry cells were nearly exhausted, I punched holes
through the zinc covering with a nail, as shown in the sketch. The
holes were placed about 1¹⁄₂ in. apart, and care was taken not to
punch them near the upper edge of the container, or the black
insulation might thus be injured. The cells were then placed in a
saturated solution of sal ammoniac. The vessel containing the liquid
must be filled only to within ¹⁄₂ in. from the top of the cell, otherwise
the binding posts will be corroded, and the cell probably short-
circuited. The cells were left in the solution six hours, and then
became remarkably live. They must not be connected or permitted to
come into contact with each other while in the solution.—H. Sterling
Parker, Brooklyn, N. Y.
 A Sliding Board for Coasting

The simple device shown in the sketch can afford youngsters

much amusement in coasting down inclines or small hills, either on
the snow or on surfaces slightly crusted with ice. The board is
intended for individual use only and should be about 10 in. wide and
26 in. long. It is reinforced underneath by a strip of wood, about ¹⁄₄ in.
thick and smoothed on its lower side. This piece is fastened in the
form of a bow by placing a small cleat between it and the upper
piece. The strip should be about 3 in. wide, and aids in keeping the
sliding board in its course.—John F. Long, Springfield, Mo.
 Electrical Device Transmits Striking of Clock
Converting an ordinary parlor, or mantel, clock into a master clock,
from which the striking of the gong is transmitted to various parts of
the home, may be accomplished by fitting it with a simple electrical
device, as shown in the sketch. The general arrangement of the
batteries, single-stroke bells, and the contact device within the clock
case is shown in Fig. 1; a detail of the silk cord and other
connections of the contact key and the gong hammer, is shown in
Fig. 2. This arrangement has been in operation for several years,
and has been found practical.
 Fig. 1

Fig. 2
The General Arrangement of the Apparatus for Transmitting the Striking of a
Clock Gong is Shown in Fig. 1, and a Detail of the Contact Device in Fig. 2

The various rooms to which the striking of the gong is to be

transmitted are wired with No. 18 annunciator wire, run carefully
behind picture moldings and in corners. Where the wires must be
carried through a partition, a ¹⁄₄-in. hole is sufficiently large for the
purpose. The single-stroke bells are wired up as shown in the
sketch. The number of dry batteries necessary varies with the
number of bells in the circuit, and also depends on the length of wire
through which the current is carried. A trial should be made with
several batteries and more added until the bells are rung properly.
 The connecting device may be fitted into the clock case without
defacing it by boring holes in its side, and the binding posts are fixed
into place neatly. The two sections of the contact key, shown in detail
in Fig. 2, are fastened to the back of the clock case with bolts. The
upper member is fitted with an adjustable thumbscrew and is
stationary on the bolt fastening. The lower arm is made of covered
wire and is pivoted on the supporting bolt. Attached to its lower edge,
at the pivot, is a small lever arm. This is connected to the hammer
rod of the gong with a silk cord. The length of the cord must be
determined by careful adjustment so that it will not hinder the action
of the hammer H, but will bring the swinging arm into proper contact
with the thumbscrew. The contact should be made at the instant the
hammer strikes the bell. The contact of the platinum point of the
thumbscrew and the swinging arm must be close, but not too strong.
Metal posts or tubes fitted over the bolts, at the points where the
arms are attached to the back of the clock case, may be used to
bring the arms the proper distance forward in the case, so that they
will be in alinement with the hammer rod. The silk cord must not
interfere with the action of the pendulum P. To hold the silk cord in
place on the hammer rod, drop a small piece of melted sealing wax
or solder on the rod.—W. E. Day, Pittsfield, Mass.
 Antique Signboard Made of Headboard of Bed
Some old headboards of beds are of such a pattern that they lend
themselves readily for use as signboards, with only slight alteration.
Such an adaptation is shown in the sketch, and was fitted to a
bracket of ornamental iron, the whole producing a striking effect. The
sign was made of black walnut and was, by reason of its age, well
seasoned. It was treated with several coats of linseed oil to
withstand the action of the weather better.
A Signboard Which Attracts Attention was Made of the Headboard of a
Walnut Bed
 Auto Horn for Child’s Play Vehicle
A baking-powder, or other tinned, can may be used to make the
small automobile horn shown in the illustration, for use on a child’s
coaster wagon. The device consists of a toothed wheel operating
against several metal pawls within the can, and the warning sound is
produced by turning a small crank at the end of the can. The can is
fixed to the side of the vehicle by means of a wire or strap-iron
bracket, as shown in the sketch at E.

This Small Auto Horn was Made of a Tinned Can Fitted with a Notched Wheel
and Pawls