Pensions: How much for the baby boomers?

The looming pensions crisis means individuals will have to take more responsibility, work longer and begin to save. If the US goes from a nation of spenders to a nation of savers, as it must, what will the impact be for the global economy, asks Gabriel Stein.

World Economic Forum special report: Contents

Gabriel Stein
Director and chief international economist
Lombard Street Research

Labour forces, and soon populations, are starting to shrink in most advanced economies, for the first time since the 1930s. In some – notably Korea, Japan, Germany and Italy – this is well under way. Imminent retirement of the baby-boomers – the 1946-64 generation – is the proximate cause. Of course, only the first cohort is 60-plus, close to the retirement age of 65.

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