Starcast Join the waitlist
Past Present Future

Past Present Future

An Ageing World: The Problem of Gerontocracy

Sep 30, 2026 · 59m

Coming soon to iPhone. Already have it? “Listen in Starcast” takes you straight there.

On this episode

About this episode

In today’s episode for our series about living in ageing societies, David talks to historian and legal scholar Samuel Moyn about the problem of gerontocracy, aka the rule of the old. Why do older generations now have so much wealth and so much power? Why is this particularly true in the United States? Is the real problem elderly politicians or elderly voters? Do the young stand a chance any more? Out tomorrow on PPF+: part two of this conversation in which David and Sam try to move from diagnosis to cure. How can older people be encouraged to stop hoarding wealth and power? Is socialised care the solution? And is that ever going to happen in a place like America? To get this and all our…