Private and public consumption across generations in Australia

Rice, James Mahmud; Temple, Jeromey; McDonald, Peter

doi:10.1111/ajag.12489

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Great Depression). However, Australia's baby boom cohort, the approximate 5.5 million born between 1946 and 1964, 1 challenges this representation to some extent with baby boomers often viewed as significant beneficiaries of social change, and economic circumstances affording them lifelong opportunities not available to younger and older cohorts (Kendig, 2017a;Rice et al, 2017). Additionally, they are seen as the decisionmakers who, in political and economic terms, have taken Australia down a neoliberal pathway resulting in public policies shaped by deregulation and marketisation and, as some would argue, to deepening social and economic inequalities (Western et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards Australia’s baby boomers and intergenerational equity

O’Loughlin

Hussain²,

Kendig

2020

The Sociological Review

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Australia’s Intergenerational Reports (2010, 2015) make a case for restraining public expenditure on an ageing population given the sizeable post-WWII baby boom cohort, increasing longevity, and uncertain economic prospects for younger generations. There also is concern for major disparities within older and younger generations resulting from cumulative advantages or disadvantages over the life course. Drawing on national survey data from the Attitudes to Ageing in Australia study, this article investigates perceptions of inequity between age cohorts at two time points (2009–10, 2015–17) focusing on variations by age and gender around lifelong opportunities for baby boomers compared to other groups, share of government benefits, and support for increasing pension age eligibility. The findings indicate a shift in attitudes between 2009–10 and 2015–17 with more in the younger cohorts in 2015–17 reporting better lifelong opportunities for baby boomers; and baby boomers receiving a fair share/more than a fair share of government benefits. With pension age eligibility, there is a small but significant shift in attitudes supporting the increase and a corresponding drop in those opposing it, however opposition is highly gendered with more women in each of the age cohorts opposing it at both time points. While there is a perceptible shift in younger cohorts’ attitudes towards baby boomers’ perceived advantages, overall attitudes are not totally supportive of government arguments for expenditure restraint; although a more overt public discourse on intergenerational inequity is emerging as the declining life prospects of younger cohorts are juxtaposed with tax-advantaged housing and retirement wealth of many older age Australians.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards Australia’s baby boomers and intergenerational equity

O’Loughlin

Hussain²,

Kendig

2020

The Sociological Review

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“…The approach to intergenerational inequality, or inequality between birth cohorts, in this paper builds on earlier work by Rice, Temple, and McDonald ( 4 , 26 ). Birth cohorts are, of course, defined by year of birth.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Demographic and Economic Change on the Australian Generational Economy: Financial Sustainability, Intergenerational Inequality, and Material Living Standards

Rice

Wilson²,

Temple³

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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The generational economy—which is that aspect of the economy that pertains to the economic activities of, and the economic relationships between, different ages and generations—can be evaluated on the basis of a number of different criteria. The most critical of these include the financial sustainability of the generational economy, the intergenerational inequality that the generational economy creates, and the material living standards associated with the generational economy. How the generational economy performs in terms of these three criteria is, moreover, shaped by underlying processes of demographic and economic change. This paper examines how the Australian generational economy can be expected to perform in coming decades in terms of financial sustainability, intergenerational inequality, and material living standards. How the performance of the Australian generational economy is shaped by variations in fertility, mortality, overseas migration, and labour-income growth is also assessed. The results reported in the paper indicate that, because of population aging, consumption can only grow at a substantially lower rate than labour income if financial sustainability is to be maintained. These results also suggest that increasing overseas migration is a distinctly useful policy tool for meeting the challenges posed by population aging, since increasing overseas migration both increases material living standards and decreases intergenerational inequality.

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