Generational Accounting: Knowing Who Pays, and When, for What We Spend

by Laurence J. Kotlikoff

Book Overview

This text proposes that the arbitrary concept of national deficit is scrapped and replaced with a system of generational accounting that allows citizens to see who actually pays - and when - for today's expenditures.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0029184630
• ISBN13: 9780029184639
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Once again, Larry Kotlikoff is ahead of his time

I had the honor of working the Professor Kotlikoff on several occasions in the early 90s. Even in those days, he was well ahead of the thinking on the topic of generational wealth/deficit transfers, off-the-books accounting, and the need for drastic reforms in pensions, social welfare, and government funding. In this book, Kotlikoff provides extensive detailed analysis of the problems with government spending and government "unaccounted for" obligations. And he presents it in such a manner that the most "geek oriented" numbers cruncher can dig into the details, while at the same time the qualitative policy interested person can also grasp the issues. I would strongly recommend a combination of this book with the latest edition of David Foot's "Boom, Bust and Echo" to get a real understanding of the house of cards that has been constructed in our economy, based on a combination of fiscal policies and demographic trends. Larry Kotlikoff is a real hero in raising and explaining these issues.