The issue of generational transfers is growing in importance.
Populations are ageing, placing an increasing burden on provision of
pensions, health care and other welfare services. In many nations the
imbalance between a growing, older generation, supported by a shrinking
younger generation, has fuelled debates about intergenerational justice.
The key argument being that political and institutional developments
over the last century have been to the advantage of older generations at
the expense of current younger and future generations. But this only
addresses half of the story, neglecting the flows of resources, through
private, family channels. One key response to the growing fiscal problem
of ageing societies has been to focus responsibility on self-funding and
familial support. The growth of asset values, particularly housing,
which are concentrated among the elderly, underpin such strategies. But
this exposes new risks as potentially extractable resources are
determined by wider fluctuations in the economy, and housing markets in
particular. Clearly, these cohort effects, and responses to them, play
out differently in different national developmental settings, depending
on long-run patterns of economic, social and demographic change. This
collection address these issues and provides original insights across
different international contexts. The collection focusses on financial
and non-financial transfers, generational interdependencies, and the
role of labour and housing markets in welfare support, set against the
changing economic landscape following the Great Financial Crisis of
2007. Although institutional and national differences exist the key
emerging issues are the same: the financial and welfare challenges of
supporting aging in societies; inequalities in the availability of
assets across individuals, families and nations; and the extent to which
private asset accumulation can support families over the life course.
Drawing from examples across European countries, this collection will
nonetheless be relevant to researchers and policy makers in other
nations addressing the complexities of providing welfare across the life
course in the face of restricted financial resources.
