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Methodology SkillsBeliefs & Attitudes
Project Leader: Vegard Skirbekk
Project Staff and Collaborators: Bilal Barakat, Caroline Berghammer, Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, Laura Romeu Gordo, Anne Goujon, Melissa Hardy, Samir KC, Harold Lentzner, Elke Loichinger, Erling Lundevaller, Victoria Schreitter, Marcin Stonawski, Kjetil Telle, Emma Terama, Muhammad Asif Wazir, Jovan Zamac

The central research theme of the Age and Cohort Change (ACC) project is the projection of social and economic change (skills, productivity, attitudes and beliefs) in Europe over the coming decades. The five-year project received 1 million euro funding through ERC "European Starting Independent Researcher Grant".

The ACC project focuses on two major topics: human capital, skills and work performance; and beliefs and attitudes. Understanding age variation in productivity and how to improve senior workers skills and capacities are paramount for ageing countries. Ageing and cohort change will also alter values and belief structures, and a better understanding of these changes is necessary to improve one’s capacity to foresee and develop more targeted policies that relate to societal ageing and other demographic change.

Figure 1 gives an example of how we might project the degree of European identity in Europe until 2030. Both cohort and age effects are estimated and projected. Based on the Eurobarometer surveys 1996-2004 (for EU 15), and the question: “Do you see yourself as Nationality only as opposed to …, as Nationality and European, as European and Nationality or European only?”, we focused on changes in the population share with some degree of European identity. Our conclusion is that as older, more nationally oriented cohorts die, there are likely to be significant changes in the pattern of European identity. Although the politics of European integration remain volatile and unpredictable, these long-term tectonic shifts in identity are likely to have major and enduring consequences for the future of Europe.

Figure 1. Proportion with some degree of European identity (as opposed to only national identity), 1996-2030
Sourse: Lutz, W., Kritzinger S., and V. Skirbekk, Science 20, Oct 2006.

Responsible for this page: Katja Scherbov
Last updated: 02 Aug 2010