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Many countries followed the German example in increasing the legal retirement age, reaching the German standard envisaged for 2030 (of 67 years of age) at an earlier stage (in Ireland: 2021; the Netherlands: 2021; and Denmark: 2022) or even exceeding it (in Ireland: with 68 years, starting in 2028).

\"Objective: This article provides a non-technical introduction to analyses of fertility which are based on a rational-choice paradigm and which acknowledge that raising children may have a strong impact on the well-being of parents that can be described in terms of costs and benefits. It surveys different types of economic fertility models which can be used to address a variety of research questions, and it also discusses some basic strengths and weaknesses of applying economic analyses in this particular field. Results: Starting from a seminal contribution by Becker (1960) which may have been of little use for applied research or for interdisciplinary work, the economic theory of fertility has unfolded a differentiated research program with indispensable contributions to the broader field of fertility research. Important features are the inclusion of (i) different bargaining positions and differing incentives of partners interacting in fertility choices; (ii) simultaneous decisions regarding labor force participation (as well as education) and fertility, and the role played by employers, labor market institutions, and other public interventions; (iii) the idea that children (or their 'human capital') are investment goods with various kinds of returns that may be dispersed over an extremely long period of time, are subject to enormous uncertainties, and are strongly influenced by the social context and, again, by public policies. Conclusions: Economic aspects and elements of economic models should be included in any large-scale attempt at understanding fertility behavior through interdisciplinary research. Improvements in the data infrastructure, which are only partly underway thus far, would be an important pre-requisite.\" (author's abstract).

The indicator that is commonly used to assess the long-term fiscal sustainability of public finances in EU member states (“S2”) is also defined if government borrowing rates are assumed to be permanently lower than the growth rate of GDP. Under these circumstances, however, it no longer provides a reliable orientation for fiscal policy. I illustrate these findings based on simulations prepared for the Fifth Sustainability Report published by the German Federal Ministry of Finance. In addition, I discuss the interpretation of the indicator in a low-interest environment and the assumption that relevant interest rates may continue to be low if there are substantial challenges for fiscal sustainability, e.g., through demographic ageing.

Like in a number of other transition countries, the Croatian pension system comprises a traditional public pay-as-you-go scheme and a mandatory funded scheme (second pillar) that will provide increasing amounts of supplementary pensions to those entering retirement in the future. Due to the continuing economic crisis, the public scheme is currently under enormous financial strain, with a sizeable impact on central government finances. At the same time, the level of benefits deriving from the overall system is likely to become inadequately low in the long run. In this paper, we describe the existing system and project its future development under current rules. We also discuss options for further reforming the system and highlight their potential impact on pension finances, public budgets and retirement incomes, as this may provide lessons, which are of interest elsewhere.