This study offers insight into a range of social and political issues relating to the elderly, such as health care, crime, social security and discrimination. It examines the social and economic status of the elderly in the United States in order to explore how and why their influence has changed.

Observing that people change both physically and cognitively as they age, Posner suggests that each of us has, in succession, two separate selves - younger and older - with different abilities, interests and behaviours. This study aims to consolidate a rethinking of the role of the elderly in public and private life.

Introduction
Pt. 1: Aging and Old Age as Social, Biological, and Economic Phenomena
1: What Is Aging, and Why?
2: Old Age Past, Present, and Future
3: A Human-Capital Model of Aging
4: An Economic Model of Aging with Change Assumed
Pt. 2: The Economic Theory Elaborated and Applied
5: The Economic Psychology of the Old
6: Behavioral Correlates of Age
7: Age, Creativity, and Output
8: Adjudication and Old Age
9: The Status of the Old and the Aging of Institutions
Pt. 3: Normative Issues
10: Euthanasia and Geronticide
11: Social Security and Health
12: Legal Issues of Aging and Old Age: A Sampler
13: Age Discrimination by Employers and the Issue of Mandatory Retirement
Index