The World Economic Forum predicts a USD 400 trillion pensions shortfall by 2050

Re:The World Economic Forum predicts a USD 400 trillion pens... by slv77 on Friday June 02, 2017 @08:45AM (#14469425)

Pensions are a structured transfer of wealth from the old to the young. It's possible to have high unemployment when:

- Inadequate savings for the median retiree

- High levels of wealth inequality

- High levels of foreign debt

In that case the wealth transfer mechanism is broken. Those that are old are reducing consumption while those that are young can't generate income to replace it while those holding all the wealth (savings) scramble to avoid defaults (and risk) in a rapidly slowing economy.

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Re:The World Economic Forum predicts a USD 400 trillion pens... by RobertoG on Friday June 02, 2017 @09:14AM (#14469590)

"[..] a structured transfer of wealth from the old to the young"

Do you mean from the young to the old?

How "inadequate savings for the median retiree" create unemployment?

I can't think of the mechanism. Do you mean a deficit of investment in the economy from the savings?

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Re:The World Economic Forum predicts a USD 400 trillion pens... by slv77 on Friday June 02, 2017 @03:09PM (#14472548)

"Do you mean from the young to the old?"

I'm thinking of wealth as the claim on productive assets such as stocks, bonds and property. Pensions are a structured transfer of wealth from the old to the young and of labor from the young to the old.

"I can't think of the mechanism..."

Inadequate savings can create structural problems that result in temporary mismatches between the desire to work and the desire to consume.

For example if retirees are worried that savings or pensions are inadequate they may delay consumption which can create temporary high unemployment.

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