Who Wins and Who Loses? Public Transfer Accounts for US Generations Born 1850 to 2090

Antoine Bommier, Ronald Lee, Timothy Miller and Stéphane Zuber

No 10969, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Public transfer programs in industrial nations have massive long term fiscal imbalances, and apparently permit the elderly to benefit through pension and health care programs at the cost of the young and future generations. However, the intergenerational picture is turned upside down when public education is included in generational accounts along with pensions and health care. We calculate the net present value (NPV) of benefits received minus taxes paid for US generations born 1850 to 2090, and find that all generations born from 1950 to 2050 are net gainers, while many of today's old people are net losers. Windfall gains for early generations when Social Security and Medicare started up partially offset windfall losses when public education was started, roughtly consistent with the Becker-Murphy theory.

JEL-codes: H0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-pbe
Note: AG PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published as Antoine Bommier & Ronald Lee & Tim Miller & Stéphane Zuber, 2010. "Who Wins and Who Loses? Public Transfer Accounts for US Generations Born 1850 to 2090," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 1-26.

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Journal Article: Who Wins and Who Loses? Public Transfer Accounts for US Generations Born 1850 to 2090 (2010)
Working Paper: Who wins and who loses? Public transfer accounts for US generations born 1850 to 2090 (2004)
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