Care and value at the end of life

How we care for dependent people is an important test of how we make decisions about value in our society. These are not just decisions about budgetary prioritisation, but about how different conceptions of value are to be reconciled. This paper discusses the interaction between cultures of economic circulation and cultures of care with respect to the dependent elderly. It focuses on the ways in which the dependent elderly themselves experience economic life, particularly as it relates to their care. The paper begins by showing how the economic experience of elderly people is distinctive. It then explores how elderly people interact with markets in care and with modern caring institutions. It concludes by drawing out implications for the future of elder care and for our understanding of how life is valued in modern market economies.

► Elderly people experience economic life differently to other people.
► Self-interested market exchange cannot adequately motivate elder care.
► The dependent elderly increasingly interact with institutions, not individuals.
► Accounting struggles to capture important issues surrounding institutional care.
► Good care requires an economically persuasive articulation of the value of life.