tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3949752.post6975966172267841294..comments2023-04-29T17:39:27.807+02:00Comments on Italian Economy Watch: Credit Rating Agencies, Pensions, Ageing and DebtUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3949752.post-81988784653824598702007-09-04T07:22:00.000+02:002007-09-04T07:22:00.000+02:00Hi again,"This may sound like a naive question by ...Hi again,<BR/><BR/>"This may sound like a naive question by why do so many problems revolve around government intervention?"<BR/><BR/>Well unlike your question on the Spanish blog this is not easy and straightforward to answer. So I will pass, and simply recommend you read around this posts on this matter either here or over at Demography matters, where Randy incidenatlly has a post on Alberta which may interest you.<BR/><BR/>Basically Italy's problems come from rapid population ageing. At heart this is a problem of years of governemnt INACTION, I mean Italy has been below replacement fertility for over 30 years now, and natural increase in the population turned negative in the early 90s.<BR/><BR/>Also Italy's long life expectancy has been well known, and for many, many years.<BR/><BR/>But nobody did anything. Noone thought it was important. Now the mess is with us and getting bigger by the day, and of course at this point it is hard to see how much can be done to address the underlying issue in the time horizon which is left before the debt problems gets out of hand.Edward Hughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10384039867580949531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3949752.post-34511553503535462492007-09-04T02:44:00.000+02:002007-09-04T02:44:00.000+02:00Hello. This may sound like a naive question by why...Hello. This may sound like a naive question by why do so many problems revolve around government intervention? Is there a way to begin the process of balancing the problem through the private sector and individuals?T.C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10275996524128634117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3949752.post-83645818969368382712007-07-29T09:44:00.000+02:002007-07-29T09:44:00.000+02:00Hi Famous Teas,"have you factored in stuff like th...Hi Famous Teas,<BR/><BR/>"have you factored in stuff like this:"<BR/><BR/>I haven't explicitly done this here, or for Italy, but as part of my general research I have been looking at the whole area of the metabolic syndrome. I agree with you, this is going to be very important.<BR/><BR/>What we can see are a long living and essentially healthy, and long living, generation being supported in their old age by a potentially much less healthy (on average) one. The economics of this simply don't add up.<BR/><BR/>I would also wish to underline that the impact of many of these things comes a lot sooner than 2050. Many of the economic and social impacts of population ageing are already making their presence felt, so in general terms I prefer stuff which goes along the lines "do you know that between 2010 and 2015, bla, bla, bla....... <BR/><BR/>I prefer this since it is a time horizon we arguably know much more about already, and it is much easier for people to get to grips with.Edward Hughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10384039867580949531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3949752.post-82403010296944687412007-07-29T07:44:00.000+02:002007-07-29T07:44:00.000+02:00Edward, have you factored in stuff like this::-)Th...Edward, <BR/>have you factored in stuff like this:<BR/>:-)<BR/>The number of six- to 10-year-olds who become obese will keep rising relentlessly until the late 2040s, with as many as half of all primary school-age boys and one in five girls dangerously overweight by 2050, according to the document.<BR/>http://tinyurl.com/4t2bHans Suterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15643533748766695159noreply@blogger.com