IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/intere/v57y2022i1d10.1007_s10272-022-1027-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do the COVID-19 Crisis, Ageing and Climate Change Put Swiss Fiscal Sustainability at Risk?

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Brändle

    (Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltung EFV)

  • Pierre-Alain Bruchez

    (Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltung EFV)

  • Carsten Colombier

    (Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltung EFV)

  • Martin Baur

    (Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltung EFV)

  • Lukas Hohl

    (Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltung EFV)

Abstract

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis as well as demographic and climate change pose major challenges for public finances. This article deals with the implications of demographic trends in Switzerland, i.e. the progressive ageing of the population and its impact on the country’s public finances in the long run. As the analysis shows, the brunt of the demographic burden is borne by the old-age pension scheme, health and long-term care. This article also addresses the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 crisis and shows the need for economic policy action over the longer term to ensure the sustainability of public finances in Switzerland. Furthermore, a qualitative assessment of climate change is included, as it constitutes an additional major long-term challenge for public finances.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Brändle & Pierre-Alain Bruchez & Carsten Colombier & Martin Baur & Lukas Hohl, 2022. "Do the COVID-19 Crisis, Ageing and Climate Change Put Swiss Fiscal Sustainability at Risk?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(1), pages 48-55, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:intere:v:57:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10272-022-1027-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10272-022-1027-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10272-022-1027-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10272-022-1027-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier Jean Blanchard, 1990. "Suggestions for a New Set of Fiscal Indicators," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 79, OECD Publishing.
    2. Jean-Francois Bastin & Emily Clark & Thomas Elliott & Simon Hart & Johan van den Hoogen & Iris Hordijk & Haozhi Ma & Sabiha Majumder & Gabriele Manoli & Julia Maschler & Lidong Mo & Devin Routh & Kail, 2019. "Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Braendle, Thomas & Colombier, Carsten, 2020. "Budgetary targets as cost-containment measure in the Swiss healthcare system? Lessons from abroad," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(6), pages 605-614.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paunovic, Igor, 2005. "Public debt sustainability in the northern countries of Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    2. D’Erasmo, P. & Mendoza, E.G. & Zhang, J., 2016. "What is a Sustainable Public Debt?," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2493-2597, Elsevier.
    3. Gossé, Jean-Baptiste & Guillaumin, Cyriac, 2013. "L’apport de la représentation VAR de Christopher A. Sims à la science économique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 89(4), pages 309-319, Décembre.
    4. Marco BUTI & Daniele FRANCO & Hedwig ONGENA, 1997. "Budgeetary Policies during Recessions : Retrospective Application of the Stability and Growth Pact” to the Post-War Period," Discussion Papers (REL - Recherches Economiques de Louvain) 1997041, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    5. World Bank, 2005. "Dominica : OECS Fiscal Issues, Policies to Achieve Fiscal Sustainability and Improve Efficiency and Equity of Public Expenditures," World Bank Publications - Reports 8681, The World Bank Group.
    6. Volker Meier & Martin Werding, 2010. "Ageing and the welfare state: securing sustainability," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(4), pages 655-673, Winter.
    7. Ronald D. Kneebone & Kenneth J. McKenzie, 1999. "The Characteristics of Fiscal Policy in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 25(4), pages 483-501, December.
    8. Lankester-Campos, Valerie & Loaiza-Marín, Kerry & Monge-Badilla, Carlos, 2020. "Assessing public debt sustainability for Costa Rica using the fiscal reaction function," Latin American Journal of Central Banking (previously Monetaria), Elsevier, vol. 1(1).
    9. Aristovnik, Aleksander, 2008. "How sustainable are fiscal deficits? Evidence from Mediterranean countries," MPRA Paper 12317, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Kazakova, Maria & Nesterova, Kristina, 2015. "Long-Term Forecast of the Main Parameters of the Budgetary System of Russia," Published Papers 2309, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    11. Pajek, Luka & Košir, Mitja, 2021. "Strategy for achieving long-term energy efficiency of European single-family buildings through passive climate adaptation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    12. Levy-Yeyati, Eduardo & Sturzenegger, Federico, 2007. "A Balance-Sheet Approach to Fiscal Sustainability," Working Paper Series rwp07-044, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    13. Carlos Díaz Alvarado & Alejandro Izquierdo & Ugo Panizza, 2004. "Fiscal Sustainability in Emerging Market Countries with an Application to Ecuador," Research Department Publications 4371, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    14. Agnès Bénassy-Quéré & Guillaume Roussellet, 2014. "Fiscal sustainability in the presence of systemic banks: the case of EU countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(3), pages 436-467, June.
    15. Lane, Philip R. & Perotti, Roberto, 2003. "The importance of composition of fiscal policy: evidence from different exchange rate regimes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2253-2279, September.
    16. José Francisco Bellod Redondo, 2010. "Pensiones – La Aritmética Del Miedo," Contribuciones a la Economía, Servicios Académicos Intercontinentales SL, issue 2010-03, March.
    17. Vernon L. Scarborough, 2021. "What ancient landscapes contribute to climate change," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 161-167, January.
    18. Carine Meyimdjui, 2020. "Imported Food Price Shocks and Socio-Political Instability: Do Fiscal Policy and Remittances Matter?," IMF Working Papers 2020/248, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Julia Darby & V. Anton Muscatelli & Graeme Roy, "undated". "Fiscal Federalism and Fiscal Consolidation: Evidence from an Event Study," Working Papers 2005_21, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Jun 2005.
    20. W.H. Buiter & U Patel, 1995. "Budgetary Aspects of Stabilization and Strucutral Adjustment in India: The Painful Road to a Sustainable Fiscal-Financial-Monetary Plan," CEP Discussion Papers dp0247, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    H60; J11; Q54;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:intere:v:57:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10272-022-1027-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.