Demographic Change and Fiscal Policy

An analyses the effect of changing demography in the US and elsewhere on tax revenues and public programmes.

Analyses the effect of changing demography in the US and elsewhere on tax revenues and public programmes. Topics covered include: demographic change and the outlook for Social Security, Medicare and government spending; long-term decision making under uncertainty; early retirement in policy and practice; local community spending and demographic change.As public expenditures on health, education and transfer programmes increase, demographic change has a growing impact on public expenditures, and the incentives for behaviour created by public transfer programs increase as well. The essays in this volume discuss such topics as: demographic change and the outlook for Social Security and Medicare in the United States; long-term decision making under uncertainty; the effect of changing family structure on government spending; how the structure of public retirement policies has encouraged early retirement in some countries and not others; the response of local community spending to demographic change; and related topics. Contributors include many of the world's leading public finance economists and economic demographers.