Predicaments in the Futures of Aging Democracies

Thomas Lindh and Urban Lundberg 2007

Alternative demographic scenarios for Sweden are used to illustrate how even very small variations in the assumptions of demographic projections lead to radically different future population structures. Hence, the majority preferences in a distant future cannot be foreseen. The sustainability of long-term social security systems require constitutional balances that provide for orderly and continual adaptation rather than once-for-all fixes.

Download Working Paper 2007 no.4

Alternative demographic scenarios for Sweden are used to illustrate how even very small variations in the assumptions of demographic projections lead to radically different future population structures. Hence, the majority preferences in a distant future cannot be foreseen. The sustainability of long-term social security systems require constitutional balances that provide for orderly and continual adaptation rather than once-for-all fixes.

Download Working Paper 2007 no.4