Public Pensions, Family Allowances and Endogenous Demographic Change

In addition to an old-age insurance system which redistributes income from the young to the old, family allowances build a further redistributive system which typically favors younger and burdens older generations. Family allowances have tow main tasks: first, child allowances offer an incentive for child-bearing which influences fertility in an economy. Second, subsidies which ease the financial burden of a child's education guarantee a higher average level of productive skills and therefore enhance net domestic product. If individual demand for having and educating children leads to an impact on the economic system as a whole, we have external effects. In such a case, corrective taxation (Pigouvian tax) should be considered.