In what sense is there a pensions 'time bomb'?

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1,0, University of St Andrews (Department of Economics), course: Public Finance, language: English, abstract: This essay discusses the weaknesses of current public pension systems and derives suggestions for improvements. Starting with an analysis of the existing pay-as-you-go systems by describing the functionality and economic conditions required to make such a system work, it states that the former systems are not appropriate anymore due to major changes in the ecomomic environment (eg. demographic change). Taking the ongoing, significant changes in the most important variables that affect a pension system as given, it shows how future pnesion systems should be shaped.