Download or read book Who Will Pay? Coping with Aging Societies, Climate Change, and Other Long-Term Fiscal Challenges written by Mr.Peter S. Heller and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-11-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aging populations. Weather shocks. Scarce water. Globalization. Security threats. Policymakers today confront a number of developments that threaten to burden public budgets for decades to come, or bankrupt some entirely. This book argues that governments need to make policy changes now to take account of the potential fiscal consequences of these developments. After describing how, if at all, analysts, national governments, and international organizations currently address these long-term issues, the book stresses the vital need for a multipronged approach, involving strengthened analyses, greater attention to long-term issues and risk factors in budgeting, and institutional reforms that address the myopic biases of politicians and the public.