Abstract

VANHUYSSE, Pieter. Aging Electorates, Intergenerational Fairness and Pro-Elderly Policy Bias: A Survey of Research in Comparative Politics. e-Pública [online]. 2015, vol.2, n.2, pp.98-108. ISSN 2183-184X.

This article reviews the state of the art in comparative politics and political sociology on the interplay between population aging and public policies in OECD democracies. It discusses findings from the Intergenerational Justice Index (IJI) - a simple four-dimensional indicator developed with the Bertelsmann Stiftung in order to compare intergenerational justice in practice across 29 societies (Vanhuysse 2013). Three of the IJI dimensions measure policy outcomes that leave legacy burdens towards younger and future generations (ecological footprint, child poverty, and public debt levels per child) whereas the fourth dimension measures policy inputs in the form of welfare states' overall pro-elderly spending bias. I argue that demography is not destiny: good policy design strongly mediates the direct influence of population aging on pro-elderly policy bias and intergenerational equity. Demographic change provides urgent arguments for (re)activating the fiscal and human capital basis of aging welfare states and for investing in early human capital. But the institutional complexities and context-dependencies of generational politics do not justify blanket generational blame games.

Keywords : Generational politics; intergenerational equity; empirical social justice; gerontocracy; comparative welfare; political sociology; pension reform.

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