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Young and Old Competing for Public Welfare Services

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  • Lars-Erik Borge
  • Jørn Rattsø

Abstract

Generational conflict affects the supply of public welfare services, and the rising share of elderly is seen as a threat to educational spending. We offer an analysis of spending in child care, primary and lower secondary education, and care for the elderly related to the size of young and old voters. Using panel data from Denmark for the period 1989-1996, we find that the elderly are reducing spending in child care and education, but the young do not threaten elderly care. It is a disadvantage for both the elderly and the young to be part of a large cohort.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars-Erik Borge & Jørn Rattsø, 2008. "Young and Old Competing for Public Welfare Services," CESifo Working Paper Series 2223, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2223
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Cattaneo, M. Alejandra & Wolter, Stefan C., 2009. "Are the elderly a threat to educational expenditures?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 225-236, June.
    2. Gianko Michailidis & Concepció Patxot & Meritxell Solé, 2019. "Do pensions foster education? An empirical perspective," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(38), pages 4127-4150, August.
    3. Arvate, Paulo Roberto & Zoghbi, Ana Carolina Pereira, 2010. "Intergenerational conflict and public education expenditure when there is co-residence between the elderly and young," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1165-1175, December.
    4. Busemeyer, Marius R. & Goerres, Achim & Weschle, Simon, 2008. "Demands for redistributive policies in an era of demographic aging: The rival pressures from age and class in 15 OECD countries," MPIfG Discussion Paper 08/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Nyhus, Ole Henning & Strøm, Bjarne, 2023. "School spending and extension of the youth voting franchise: Quasi-experimental evidence from Norway," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Rainald Borck, 2014. "Adieu Rabenmutter—culture, fertility, female labour supply, the gender wage gap and childcare," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 739-765, July.
    7. Kaja Høiseth Brugård, 2013. "Gender Peer Effects on Further Education," Working Paper Series 14613, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    8. Michael Berlemann & Marco Oestmann & Marcel Thum, 2014. "Demographic change and bank profitability: empirical evidence from German savings banks," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 79-94, January.
    9. Mehmet S. Tosun, 2015. "Retiree migration and intergenerational conflict," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 118-118, January.
    10. Samuel Luethi & Maria Zumbuehl, 2022. "The response of public education spending to changes in student cohort sizes," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0198, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    11. Montén, Anna & Thum, Marcel, 2010. "Ageing municipalities, gerontocracy and fiscal competition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 235-247, June.
    12. Reiling, Rune Borgan, 2016. "Does size matter? Educational attainment and cohort size," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 73-89.
    13. Ole Henning Nyhus & Bjarne Strøm, 2019. "School spending and extension of the youth voting franchise: Evidence from an experiment in Norway," Working Paper Series 17719, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    14. Rattsø, Jørn & Sørensen, Rune J., 2010. "Grey power and public budgets: Family altruism helps children, but not the elderly," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 222-234, June.
    15. Miyaki, Miki & Kimura, Masaki, 2018. "Do the Elderly Support Public Educational Expenditure? An Empirical Analysis Focusing on the Characteristics of Spending," MPRA Paper 89225, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Georges Casamatta & L. Batté, 2016. "The Political Economy of Population Aging," Post-Print hal-02520521, HAL.
    17. Rainald Borck, 2011. "Adieu Rabenmutter - The Effect of Culture on Fertility, Female Labour Supply, the Gender Wage Gap and Childcare," CESifo Working Paper Series 3337, CESifo.
    18. Casamatta, G. & Batté, L., 2016. "The Political Economy of Population Aging," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-444, Elsevier.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public welfare services; group size; age composition of the population; generational conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

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