Transferring resources between age groups : what roles do governments play?

In most countries, public transfers are concentrated heavily in public pensions and in social-sector programs that finance education and healthcare. To begin assessing the impact of population change on government budgets, the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) project uses the age profiles of public transfers to calculate a “fiscal support ratio.” This is defined as the ratio of tax revenues received to public transfers paid out for education, pensions, and healthcare. Using population projections, NTA makes it possible to forecast the likely fiscal impact of population ageing, given each economy’s unique tax and benefit structure