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Generational policy

In: Handbook of Public Economics

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Author Info
Kotlikoff, Laurence J.

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Abstract

Generational policy is a fundamental aspect of a nation's fiscal affairs. The policy involves redistributing resources across generations and allocating to particular generations the burden of paying the government's bills. This chapter in Volume 4 of the Handbook of Public Economics shows how generational policy works, how it is measured, and how much it matters to virtual as well as real economies.The chapter shows the zero-sum nature of generational policy. It then illustrates the difference between statutory and true fiscal incidence. It also illuminates the arbitrary nature of fiscal labels as well as their associated fiscal aggregates, including the budget deficit, aggregate tax revenues, and aggregate transfer payments. Finally, it illustrates the various guises of generational policy, including structural tax changes, running budget deficits, altering investment incentives, and expanding pay-as-you-go-financed social security.Once this example has been milked, the chapter shows that its lessons about the arbitrary nature of fiscal labels are general. They apply to any neoclassical model with rational economic agents and rational economic institutions. This demonstration sets the stage for the description, illustration, and critique of generational accounting. The chapter's final sections use a simulation model to illustrate generational policy, consider the theoretical and empirical case for and against Ricardian Equivalence, discuss government risk sharing and risk making, and summarize lessons learned.

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This chapter was published in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.) Handbook of Public Economics, , chapter 27, pages 1873-1932, 2002.

This item is provided by Elsevier in its series Handbook of Public Economics with number 4-27.

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This chapter was published in the following book, which is listed on IDEAS:
A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 2002. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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H0 - Public Economics - - General

References listed on IDEAS
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  4. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 467. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Ayse Imrohoroglu & Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Douglas H. Joines, 1999. "Social Security in an Overlapping Generations Economy with Land," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 2(3), pages 638-665, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1991. "Generational Accounts - A Meaningful Alternative to Deficit Accounting," NBER Working Papers 3589, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Bernd Raffelhuschen, 1999. "Generational Accounting around the Globe," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 161-166, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Fischer, Stanley, 1980. "Dynamic inconsistency, cooperation and the benevolent dissembling government," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 93-107, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1995. "Applying Generational Accounting to Developing Countries," Boston University - Institute for Economic Development 67, Boston University, Institute for Economic Development.
  16. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & John Sabelhaus, 1996. "Understanding the Postwar Decline in U.S. Saving: A Cohort Analysis," NBER Working Papers 5571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  30. David Altig & Charles T. Carlstrom, 1996. "Marginal tax rates and income inequality in a life-cycle model," Working Paper 9621, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
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  31. Imrohoroglu, Ayse & Imrohoroglu, Selahattin & Joines, Douglas H, 1998. "The Effect of Tax-Favored Retirement Accounts on Capital Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(4), pages 749-68, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  33. O'Driscoll, Gerald P, Jr, 1977. "The Ricardian Nonequivalence Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 207-10, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  36. Ghiglino, Christian & Shell, Karl, 2000. "The Economic Effects of Restrictions on Government Budget Deficits," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 106-137, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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. Erling Steigum, 2001. "Trade Unions and the Burden of the Public Debt," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  2. Karin Mayr, 2004. "The fiscal impact of immigrants in Austria--a generational accounting analysis," Economics working papers 2004-09, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jerry Green & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2006. "On the General Relativity of Fiscal Language," NBER Working Papers 12344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Kent Smetters, 2003. "Fiscal and generational imbalances: new budget measures for new budget priorities," Policy Discussion Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Dec. [Downloadable!]
  5. Krogstrup, Signe & Wyplosz, Charles, 2006. "A Common Pool Theory of Deficit Bias Correction," CEPR Discussion Papers 5866, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2006. "Is the United States bankrupt?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jul, pages 235-250. [Downloadable!]
  7. Kamil Dybczak, 2006. "Generational Accounts in the Czech Republic," Working Papers 2006/2, Czech National Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  8. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2002. "Simulating the Transmission of Wealth Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 265-269, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Kim Massey Heide, Erling Holmøy, Ingeborg Foldøy Solli and Birger Strøm, 2006. "A welfare state funded by nature and OPEC. A guided tour on Norway's path from an exceptionally impressive to an exceptionally strained fiscal position," Discussion Papers 464, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
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