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Age Bias in Fiscal Policy: Why Does the Political Process Favor the Elderly?

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Author Info
Sita Slavov (Occidental College)

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Abstract

Across countries, government expenditures tend to favor the elderly. This paper provides a political economy explanation for this phenomenon. I consider the classic problem of dividing a fixed payoff in an overlapping generations setting. Any share of the payoff can be given to any generation. Using a new solution concept for majority rule in dynamic settings (Bernheim and Slavov, 2006), I demonstrate that policies favoring the old are easier to sustain politically than other policies. This result appears across a broad class of majoritarian institutions and thus reflects general forces at work in the political process. Age bias arises because it is easy to induce the young to support policies favoring the elderly by promising them large rewards later in their lives. On the other hand, older generations cannot be rewarded in a similar manner. This asymmetry helps to generate broad political support for large transfers to older individuals.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Berkeley Electronic Press in its journal Topics in Theoretical Economics.

Volume (Year): 6 (2006)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 1279-1279
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Related research
Keywords: Political Economy Intergenerational Transfers Overlapping Generations Majority Rule

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2002. "Social Security and Democracy," Economics Working Papers 621, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Panu Poutvaara, 2003. "On the Political Economy of Social Security and Public Education," Public Economics 0303001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Mehmet Serkan Tosun & Claudia Williamson & Pavel Yakovlev, 2007. "Population Aging, Elderly Migration and Education Spending: Intergenerational Conflict Revisited," Working Papers 07-003, University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Economics & University of Nevada, Reno , Department of Resource Economics. [Downloadable!]
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