How partisan politics influence government policies in response to ageing populations

Bibliographic Data

ID7350359
AuthorsYesola Kweon (0000-0003-1245-2779, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea), Kohei Suzuki (0000-0002-5403-4826, Leiden University, The Netherlands)
Year2022
Volume50
Issue2
Pages261-281
Publication date2022-01-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolicy & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-5736 • E-ISSN: 1470-8442
PublisherPolicy Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/030557321x16316356206483
OpenAlexW4206089353
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited53

Since old-age programmes mitigate life-course risks that are relevant to individuals across socio-economic groups in ageing societies, all parties have a political incentive to support these initiatives. Nevertheless, pre-existing partisan commitments bind the policy instruments that parties use. Cabinet-level analyses of OECD economies demonstrate that left incumbency relies more on public expenditure than right-wing governments. What is more important is that, in the context of large elderly populations, pension coverage is greater under right-leaning governments, while pension replacement rates are higher in left-leaning governments. This shows that party behaviour related to life course-related policies cannot be explained by the conventional pro-expansion versus the pro-retrenchment partisan politics. Rather, a focus on partisan variation in the use of policy instruments is required.1

Cabinet (room · Context (archaeology · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Incentive · Market economy · Pension · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public policy · Retrenchment · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Finance