Public Debt and Generational Balance in Austria
Journal
Empirica
ISSN
0340-8744
ISSN-Digital
1573-6911
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2000-09-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Based on Austria's fiscal stance in 1995, we compute the generational accounts for currently living as well as future generations. The results reveal the existence of an intergenerational imbalance in favor of currently living generations. Total public sector liabilities may be more than five times as high as the officially recorded level of public debt. Without any action, future generations would face life-time net taxes that are about 65 percent higher than the tax burden of a current newborn. If the government could fully and permanently retain the expenditure cutting and revenue raising effects of the 1996 fiscal consolidation package and the 1997 pension reform, then it might be able to significantly reduce the intergenerational liabilities. However, enacting both the recent tax reform 2000 and the reform of the family support scheme would increase again the fiscal imbalance and intergenerational bias of fiscal policy in Austria.
Language
English
Keywords
Public dept
generational balance
Austria.
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
No
Publisher
Springer
Publisher place
Dordrecht
Volume
27
Number
3
Start page
225
End page
252
Pages
28
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
21970