What penny-pinching baby-boomers mean for the world economy

That matters because retirees are so numerous and rich that their behaviour can drive capital markets. America’s boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, have a net worth of $76trn, or over $1m per person. For decades their saving for retirement has helped drive down interest rates, which in the long run must move to equilibrate savings and investment globally. But economists had speculated that, upon reaching the end of their careers, boomers would open their wallets, causing this trend to reverse. Some even worried that retirees liquidating assets en masse in order to splurge could cause an asset-market meltdown.