Picture: Britt Erlanson/Getty Liberal gerontocracy and its discontents
by Krzysztof Tyszka-Drozdowski, Artillery Row:
Fewer young people supporting more old people has become an unsustainable situation.
Famously, older people tend to be more interested in politics than the young and turn out to vote in greater numbers. However, the situation in France presents a paradox: in 2017 the country elected its youngest president ever — his platform was detailed in a book fittingly named Revolution — largely with the support of the oldest segment of the electorate.
The West has never been so old, and old age has never wielded as much power as it does today. In Le Grand Viellissement, French economist Maxime Sbaihi brings attention to the reality of French liberal gerontocracy. According to him, the French state has become a fiction through which one generation lives at the expense of the young.
At first glance, France’s demographic situation doesn’t seem so dire when compared with its European neighbours. A closer look, however, shows that the French model is hyper-sensitive to demographic changes. When the pension system was introduced in 1946, there were five active workers for every one inactive person; in 2016, that ratio dropped to three to one, and by 2040 it is expected to be two to one.
Due to its longer life expectancy and lower retirement age, France is on the podium among OECD countries in terms of the number of years retirees will collect benefits. France also ranks highly in two other OECD categories: it has some of the wealthiest pensioners and is among the countries with the highest pension contributions. In light of the above, the particular vulnerability of the French model to the greying of society becomes clearer.
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