Social Spending and Demographics: The Role of Public Policies in the Intergenerational Redistribution of Income: Empirical Evidence from Spain and Catalonia

35 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2007

See all articles by Guillem Lopez Casasnovas

Guillem Lopez Casasnovas

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences

Ana Mosterin

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - CRES

Date Written: November 2006

Abstract

The demographic shift underway in Southern Europe requires a revision of some of the fundamental principles of the traditional welfare state. We analyze the evolution of several aspects of welfare and social expenditure over the last two decades. We find that in the context of the present demographic changes and real estate boom current social and pension policy leads to a new distribution of benefits and burdens which is highly intergenerationally unequal. We argue for a revised definition of public policy based on Musgrave's proposition as a possible rule for an intergenerationally fair distribution.

Note: Downloadable Document is in Spanish.

Keywords: Elderly, young, Musgrave, intergenerational equity, pensions, social expenditure, life cycle, income distribution, welfare state

JEL Classification: I32, I38, J14, H53, H55

Suggested Citation

Lopez Casasnovas, Guillem and Mosterin, Ana, Social Spending and Demographics: The Role of Public Policies in the Intergenerational Redistribution of Income: Empirical Evidence from Spain and Catalonia (November 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1002547 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1002547

Guillem Lopez Casasnovas (Contact Author)

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences ( email )

Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27
Barcelona, 08005
Spain

Ana Mosterin

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - CRES ( email )

Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Barcelona, E-08005
Spain

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
117
Abstract Views
1,224
Rank
427,869
PlumX Metrics