European National Transfer Accounts

National Transfer Accounts (NTA) is a system for measuring economic flows across age at the aggregate level in a manner consistent with National Income and Product Accounts. These intergenerational flows arise primarily because of a fundamental feature of the economic lifecycle: children and the elderly consume more than they produce through their labour. NTA provides estimates of the components of the economic lifecycle and the interage flows that inevitably arise. The accounts distinguish the economic form of flows, transfers and asset-based flows and the institutions that mediate the flows, government and private institutions – most importantly the family.

When complete National Transfer Accounts will provide estimates with sufficient historical depth to study the evolution of intergenerational transfer systems; the consequences of alternative approaches to age reallocations embodied in public policy with respect to pensions, health care, education and social institutions, e.g., the extended family; and the social, political, and economic implications of population aging.

This is of academic importance in order to test a many hypotheses concerning wealth building, financial and fiscal systems. In an ageing Europe the kind of knowledge generated in this project is crucial for the shaping of future social and economic policies.

Support for this project has been provided by European Science Foundation, FWF Austrian Science Fund, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, OIKA-Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, Swedish Research Council, TUBITAK - The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey