Volume 5, No. 4 (Winter 2002) The false-money debate of 1866 in the J ournal des Economistes was the first time that uncompromising laissez-fair advocates clashed on the question of fiduciary media...
Oskari Juurikkala
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Many people cannot imagine old-age security without the state, says Oskari Juurikkala. This is particularly the case in continental Europe, where few people have private pension plans. But of course there can be food, houses, cars, and even music and literature without the state. There will be all of these in much greater abundance, when people are left free to pursue their own ends and satisfy their needs through individual responsibility, joint effort in local communities, and mutually beneficial exchanges in the marketplace. The same holds true for old-age security.
Social security schemes around the developed world are facing a major crisis due to greater longevity, declining retirement ages and — lo and behold — below-replacement fertility rates, writes Oskari Juurikkala. Unfortunately, low fertility rates do not merely hasten the insolvency of public pay-as-you-go schemes, but lack of offspring also implies the decline of centuries-old nations. What has social security got to do with fertility rates? Actually, a lot.