This paper examines the question of why the composition of government expenditure differs among democratic countries and to what extent it may be explained by differences in economic conditions or preferences. A simple overlapping generations model, which allows for a range of relevant factors,...

It has long been known, from the work of Samuelson and Aaron, that if (approximately) the sum of the population and real earnings growth rates exceeds the real interest rate, all individuals can be made better off by using a pay-as-you-go pension scheme. The basic overlapping generations model...