next democracy

Publication

Intergenerational fairness in post-crisis Europe: A comparative study

Author: Kate Alexander Shaw

• Millennials,
• baby boomers
• intergenerational fairness

This paper offers a new perspective in two ways. First, it brings together case studies from six European nations, showing that while discourses of intergenerational fairness are emerging across much of the continent, they vary in important respects according to the national context.i These discourses then feed into quite different political and policy responses in each nation. Second, the paper reports key findings from FEPS’ Millennial Dialogues Survey to highlight the voices of young people themselves: voices that have too often been missing from a political conversation which talks about Millennials more than it listens to them.

Taken together, this new cross-country evidence illustrates the great complexity of the intergenerational agenda in Europe. What seems at first like a common response to a common economic challenge – namely, the weakened position of younger people in the post-crisis economy – is actually something more complicated.

Read the study

Photo: Jana Shea / Shutterstock.com

Articles related with the study: 

Extinction Politik – Finding Justice at the end of the World

Intergenerational fairness - a myth?!

Young generation’s call for intergenerational fairness through climate action