Workers versus Pensioners: Intergenerational Justice in an Ageing World
Are the economic interests of workers and pensioners inevitably in conflict? Will population ageing over the next four decades intensify this conflict between generations? The first section presents a broad interpretation of intergenerational conflict from the distinct perspectives of demography, economics, philosophy and social policy. The second section examines the growing economic conflict between workers and pensioners embodied in private pension systems, and the final section examines current changes in the nature and purpose of retirement in industrial countries. The essays draw upon a wide range of evidence from Western Europe, North America and Australasia. They demonstrate the need in all the developed countries for a restructuring of pension systems and retirement practices, in order to minimize the possibilities of harmful intergenerational conflict. The public policy implications of the issues of intergenerational equity that the book addresses will be of interest to demographers, labour economists, gerontologists and social policy analysts.
