Research by Andrew Scott and Martin Ellison is at the centre of new analysis examining the potentially significant economic value of longer, healthier lives.
A recent article from 'Longevity.Technology' draws on their research, conducted with Harvard Medical School’s Professor David Sinclair and published in Nature Aging. Their study uses economic methods to assess the value of improvements in health and life expectancy, and the potential gains from targeting the ageing process itself.
The researchers estimated that slowing ageing sufficiently to increase life expectancy in the United States by one year could generate around $38 trillion in economic value, rising to approximately $367 trillion for a ten-year increase. Their analysis also found that interventions which improve both health and longevity could offer particularly substantial benefits, because they enable people not only to live longer but to spend more of those additional years in good health.
The research has now been highlighted in 'Longevity.Technology'’s new Longevity Biotech Report, which considers how the wider economic value of advances in healthy longevity compares with the potential cost of developing and delivering new treatments.
Importantly, the analysis distinguishes between value to society and financial returns to investors. The estimated economic gains represent benefits distributed across society - including improvements in health, wellbeing and productivity - rather than revenues that would accrue directly to companies or investors.
The renewed attention to the research comes as the economics of ageing and longevity continues to grow as an area of research, with economists examining how longer and healthier lives could affect individuals, economies and public policy.
