A contingency-based approach for assessing policies on aging.

This article assesses the demographic and ideological shifts reshaping aging policy and proposes an approach to rethinking the bases of aging-based and aging-related policy. This approach takes into account new and multiple patterns of need and well-being among the old and, as such, holds the promise of providing both a defense of and a rationale for a range of age-related benefits. As well, it opens the possibility of shifting responsibilities for well-being in old age among government, the private sector, and individuals themselves.