The Korean Economic Forum
Assessment of Fiscal Sustainability Using Generational Accounts
Young Jun Chun (Hanyang University)Year 2024Vol. 17No. 2
Abstract
We suggest the generational accounts (GAs) as alternative fiscal sustainability indices to the government debt. The GAs assess the lifetime net tax burden across generations. They enable the evaluation of the fiscal sustainability and the generational equity taking explicit consideration of the future fiscal balance, unlike the government debt. The estimated GAs for Korea show: that the current fiscal policies are not financially sustainable; that about 13.3% of the future GDP must be appropriated to make up for the fiscal deficit of the future; and that the additional net tax burden of the future generations will increase by up to 20% of their lifetime income. The magnitude of the current government debt is smaller than the OECD average. But the government debt does not provide adequate information on the fiscal sustainability and the generational equity. The GAs can be alternative indices to the government debt.