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Wiley InterScience | |||||||
  Fiscal StudiesVolume 26 Issue 1, Pages 5 - 34 Published Online: 18 Mar 2005 © Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2009 Published on behalf of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Abstract | References | Full Text: PDF (Size: 555K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  Facing the Age Wave and Economic Policy: Fixing Public Pension Systems with Healthcare in the Wings* *This is a written version of a talk presented at the BA Festival of Science, Pension Reform and the Welfare of Pensioners, Exeter, 6–7 September 2004. The research has been funded by the National Institute on Aging (US National Institutes of Health) through grants P20-AG12810, P30-AG12810 and P01-AG05842. Copyright Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2005 KEYWORDS J14 • J26 • H55 Abstract
There are two overriding problems faced by ageing societies. One is the financing of public pension (social security in US terms) programmes. The other is paying for healthcare. This paper considers the healthcare issue briefly, emphasising that the issue arises primarily because of advances in medical technology. Better medical technology will improve healthcare in the future, but more advanced technologies also cost more. The focus of the rest of the paper is on the public pension problem. The emphasis is on the early retirement incentives inherent in the provisions of most public pension programmes around the world, the reduction in the labour force participation of older people caused by these incentives, and the large fiscal implication of the inducement of older people to leave the labour force. These results are based on the Gruber–Wise ongoing international social security comparison project. | 
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