European Pensions Add Three Hours Of Life Per Euro To East Germany

A joke in the European business community is that most young people turn 18 and start thinking about their pensions. They may have good reason, according to a study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), which found that for each additional euro the eastern Germans received in benefits from pensions and public health insurance after reunification, they gained on average three hours of life expectancy per person per year.  Public spending appears to have contributed substantially to life expectancy, they say, so much that in just a generation life expectancy in eastern Germany has increased to be almost equivalent to life expectancy in the west, a big victory for proponents of more government spending. read more

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