Fertility and PAYG pensions in the overlapping generations model

This article analyses how long-run pay-as-you-go public pensions react to a change in fertility in the basic overlapping generations model of neoclassical growth. While it would seem well established both in the academic and political debates that the decline in fertility represents a “demographic time bomb” for the sustainability of public pensions, it is shown that a falling birth rate need not necessarily cause long-run pension benefit to fall.