I found this speech by Lord David Willetts ‘Have the Boomers Pinched Their Children’s Futures?‘ quite instructive, although I do not completely concur with the conclusions.
The main message of this speech and the associated book is that due to demographics in developed countries, baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1965) would have developed substantial benefits to the detriment of the younger generations (the millennial). While it is quite obvious that the economic situation of the younger generations is not quite as good as young people some decades ago, I believe there is a mixture in the analysis between a general trend of economics and inequality increase, and a demographic effect. Everything can’t just be put on the demographics.
I still believe that the dominating economic effect today is globalization and digitization, making it harder for people with low qualifications to get adequate compensation and putting a premium to those that are globally competitive.
Still the weight of the retirees of the baby boom in western countries will be an issue to deal with, albeit a relatively temporary one. And yes, younger generations will possibly have a less easy time in retirement and there will need to be put some limits on economic transfer towards retirees. But that may not be the biggest driver of today’s economical transformation.
