35
votes
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
Lots of countries are facing the challenge of an aging population. Basically the whole northern hemisphere does (with some exceptions, the most notable one being India). The only regions of the world ...
- 74.8k
24
votes
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
Change the tax system from labor to production
Along with an aging population, productivity is rising in many sectors, and the productivity increase is often outstripping the wage (and hence income ...
- 106k
22
votes
Accepted
Why is there an official retirement age?
The French system is a pay as you go system. It's not your money you saved you retire on (unlike, say, Malaysia), it's the money current workers are still putting in that you get. That, together with ...
19
votes
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
Thinking about this problem in terms of taxation and welfare is something of a red herring; the problems occur regardless of the fiscal structure. Retirement is not about redistributing money but ...
- 1,131
16
votes
Why is there an official retirement age?
Official retirement ages are usually not maximum retirement ages but minimum retirement ages.
People who reached the retirement age are usually still permitted to work and receive a monthly income if ...
- 74.8k
13
votes
Is increased retirement age really the reason for 2023 protests in France?
It’s a reason
Like most things in politics there isn’t a simple cause and effect.
Pensions in France are complicated and I’m not going to pretend that I understand them. However, for most working ...
- 1,169
10
votes
Accepted
Why do some countries have lower instead of higher retirement age for women?
It is a reflection of traditional gender rôles and stereotypes. The husband earns the money, the wife cares for the children. The husband would be older than the wife and so would start receiving a ...
- 115k
7
votes
What’s the Realpolitik reason for Macron to change the retirement age despite this being very unpopular?
Recommend this episode of The Daily (NYT) for summary: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/podcasts/the-daily/france-retirement-strikes-protests-macron.html
Realpolitik describes the act of engaging in ...
- 10.4k
7
votes
Why is there an official retirement age?
In my country (Netherlands) I will have to be 69 years and 9 months old to retire... and that number will probably increase because it does frequently (I just turned 29 in September).
And the reason ...
- 2,079
6
votes
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
Welfare is a rather broad term, as it includes income redistribution between high and low earners, helpt to handicapped, families with many children, etc.
Retirement benefits in many western countries ...
- 12k
5
votes
How do social security payments compare to investing the same amount of money in treasury bonds?
Social Security tax is twice 6.2% of income, half paid by the employer. If we include the employer's half, Social Security tax is 11.676% of income. If we assume a 3% rate of inflation, that drops ...
- 89.3k
5
votes
How do social security payments compare to investing the same amount of money in treasury bonds?
There's a couple misunderstandings in the question, I think the main one stems from the comparison of social security to personal, private savings. Social security is meant to be a safety net more ...
- 10.5k
4
votes
Is increased retirement age really the reason for 2023 protests in France?
Frame challenge, from doing a bit of research: The protests were not about "retirement age", which is usually a concept which is specific in meaning but nebulous in execution except in very ...
- 2,446
4
votes
Pension reforms. Why is the debate constrained to raising the retirement age or not, with no intermediate solutions?
To quote some World Bank slides:
Pension Reform Policy Options:
Refinancing:
Increase payroll tax base or rate
Add additional earmarked revenues or general taxes
Retrenchment:
Reduce benefits (e....
- 145k
4
votes
Accepted
How do social security payments compare to investing the same amount of money in treasury bonds?
Social Security was partially sold as a forced retirement savings plan. A more accurate reason for its existence was to combat rampant poverty among the elderly, which it has been immensely successful ...
- 13.9k
3
votes
How can European states have a sustainable retirement system since deteriorating health is associated with the increasing retirement age
It's a very complex and highly misrepresented issue.
First of all life expectancy rose quite quickly, but after reaching about 81 years in some countries the growth rate slowed down. The media ...
- 7,140
3
votes
Why do some countries have lower instead of higher retirement age for women?
I will try to provide a developing country perspective (Eastern European country - Romania). According to this source (Romanian) there is 5 year gap between retirement age for men and women (65 vs. 60)...
- 52.6k
3
votes
Accepted
What’s the Realpolitik reason for Macron to change the retirement age despite this being very unpopular?
This measure is quite unpopular and might result in him getting voted out of power.
So what’s the Realpolitik reason for Macron to do this now? Does he or his allies gain something from such a drastic ...
- 9,606
3
votes
Is increased retirement age really the reason for 2023 protests in France?
On the economic front, there are still major doubts among the population about the very need for reform, and about the effectiveness of the current reform in redressing the situation.
A report on the ...
- 215
1
vote
Why is there an official retirement age?
Why not have a more dynamic system where you can virtually retire at any age?
Defined benefits programs, which is the model used by most government provided pension systems, depend on actuarial ...
- 12.6k
1
vote
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
A welfare state that saved up money while the population was still young can survive when that same population has aged
Similar to how an individual can plan for retirement when one is young by saving ...
- 127
1
vote
How can a welfare state with high taxes survive in the face of an aging population?
As Philipp♦ mentioned, living a family lifestyle/pronatalism can help.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Hungary. They essentially encourage families to have more children by offering tax breaks.
- 1,583
1
vote
Accepted
Do people without children spend longer time in retirement homes?
Do people without children spend longer time in retirement homes?
In Childless Elders in Assisted Living: Findings from the Maryland Assisted Living Study, which compared assisted living residents ...
- 34.4k
1
vote
How do social security payments compare to investing the same amount of money in treasury bonds?
Rate of return varies greatly from beneficiary to beneficiary. The after inflation returns are as follows:
Among current workers and retirees, the rates of annual return varied
by about two ...
- 73.2k
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