Chojnicki, Xavier

Population Aging and Immigration: A Generational Accounting Model Applied to France - 2007.


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The impact of population aging on public finances is a matter of concern to all OECD countries. There have been recent suggestions that immigration could dampen the effects of population aging. In this article, we use generational accounting to study the impact of immigration on the central government's intertemporal fiscal constraint. We show that French fiscal policy is unsustainable in the long term and requires a total 11.6% increase in taxes or an overall 13% reduction in transfers. The contribution of migrants is relatively neutral and would not help to restore equilibrium. By contrast, the introduction of a selective policy to raise immigrants'educational attainment could complement traditional economic instruments in coping with population aging.