Impacts of the age structure on the economic performance of Brazilian regions between 1991 and 2010

Abstract This study aims to analyze how age structure affected the economic performance of Brazilian regions between the 1990s and 2010. For this research, information is mainly taken from that provided by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) through the 1991, 2000 and 2010 editions of the Demographic Census. The empirical strategy adopted consists of the estimation of a model of spatial autocorrelation by the two-stage least squares method. The results showed that both child and elderly dependency ratio have a negative impact on economic growth, with the effects being more pronounced in less developed regions. Still, it was found that, when significant, the effect of the elderly dependency ratio is more pronounced in relation to children.