Beyond PAYGO and Debt five reasons to keep discussing SAYGO

Abstract

It is often debated whether New Zealand should follow the lead of Australia, Singapore and others with greater pre-funding of the future costs expected from population ageing, climate change and miscellaneous shocks. Those in favour suggest doing so would have economic benefits and would promote intergenerational equity. The simplicity of a PAYGO system worked well in the 20th century, but in this article I suggest five reasons why greater pre-funding could be better suited to 21st-century realities, with high levels of global population movement, plummeting fertility, growing insecurity, increasing climate-related risks and falling social cohesion.