Publication
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.