The mid-20th century data are consistent with this perspective. Even as late as 1950, fixed assets in the United States remained around 20 percent below trend. 8 To sum up, in the early years of the Great Depression, there were sharp declines relative to trend in several key aggregate variables.
At the G-20 Symposium "For a Better Future: Demographic Changes and Macroeconomic Challenges" held in January 2019, seven out of 13 speakers stressed the importance of labor force participation by the elderly in overcoming demographic challenges posed by the aging population. 4 See, for example, Yasuyuki Sawada, Michiko Ueda, and Tetsuya Matsubayashi, Economic Analysis of Suicide Prevention Towards Evidence-Based Policy-Making, Singapore: Springer, 2017.