The paper surveys the methodology of generational accounting, a tool for gauging intertemporal imbalance in government finances facing demographic transition. Starting from the fiscal balance rule providing the theoretical background, we review the methods of generational accountants for generating empirical projections of the items building up to the intertemporal government budget. We debate indication of generational redistribution by lifetime expected net tax payments and several indicators for fiscal sustainability found in the literature. Finally, the performance of generational accounts, which ignore behavioral and policy dynamics, is compared with that of generational welfare indicators based on overlapping generations general equilibrium models.
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
990.
Find related papers by JEL classification: H61 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Budget; Budget Systems E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
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