With rapidly rising government debt and ageing populations implying high contingent liabilities in public pension systems, the issue of longer-term fiscal developments is gaining importance. The question arises whether, and to what extent, future generations will be burdened by current policies....

The threat of a major debt crisis is presently hanging over the international financial community like Damocles' sword. Behind the crisis lies the flood of petrodollars into the financial institutions of the industrial world since the mid 1970s and the consequent large-scale lending to...