If it were to materialise, the large global increase in public pension contributions would not only mean an intergenerational income transfer, but could also entail losses in employment. At the same time, the growing fiscal cost of elderly care would increase pressure to raise taxes.
It is doubtful whether pension contributions could really rise this much, particularly at a time when the increasing mobility of both labour and capital is reducing national governments' room for manoeuvre in taxation. The effort to achieve a more sustainable base for our pension systems has in recent years been a key plank of economic policy throughout the developed world.