Belgium: Selected Issues

International Monetary Fund

No 2005/076, IMF Staff Country Reports from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: This Selected Issues paper analyzes the challenge of population aging for Belgium. It argues that the aging strategy should be broadened to include more explicitly the objective of raising employment rates to foster potential growth. The paper discusses assumptions underlying the official aging projections, and presents an alternative baseline scenario on the basis of unchanged policies. It discusses the feasibility of strategies that rely exclusively on either fiscal or labor market adjustment, and illustrates the benefits of a two-pronged strategy. The paper also examines employment effects of reductions in labor taxes in a wage-bargaining model.

Keywords: ISCR; CR; labor market; employment rate; labor market reform; GDP growth; wage norm; cost projection; labor market adjustment; Employment; Labor costs; Aging; Tax wedge; Wages; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2005-03-03
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