User:Kermer365/Generational Divide

The term generational divide refers to the accumulated delay that young people face in reaching certain personal and professional development “life goals” compared to previous generations, taking into consideration the obstacles that restrict the full attainment of social and economic maturity.

Origins
The generational divide makes an important contribution to the studies on sustainable development, in particular from the bioeconomy and sustainable development models. The growing awareness that well-being should not be measured exclusively in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) has long led economists to rethink scenarios for the near future, as well as economic and social policies aimed at promoting growth and reducing inequalities. However, two developments have triggered this emerging path: 1) the economic recession of recent years has laid bare the limits of economic forecast models developed up to now, exposing the great gap between — those who have benefited from the increase in wealth, consumption and social security standards (Baby boomers) — and those who confront the labour market without adequate economic tools (Millennials generation); and 2) heavy ecological footprint that will require urgent and substantial investments to rebuild the depleted natural capital. Investments that, once again, will be predominantly supported by future generations. In this context, alongside the concept of sustainable development, the term "integrated sustainability" is spreading among leading experts in the sector. Under the principle of global distributive justice, economic policy should provide all the tools necessary to ensure future generations have the same quality of life and opportunities as present generations today. Therefore, integrated sustainability aims to reduce not only the debt burden on the planet (traditional environmental sustainability), but also the contract with new and future generations (sustainability to ensure intergenerational equity). The generational divide also calls into question the principles of solidarity (Article 2) and equality (Article 3) enshrined in the Italian Constitution. Currently, it is not possible, to be "equal before the law" or to exercise the same rights, both civil and social, if the conditions of inequality, which prevent everyone from actually benefiting from them, are not circumvented. The debate on overcoming traditional economic models has encouraged the creation of new indicators for measuring the well-being of individuals and society. In particular, in Italy the challenge has been accepted (since 2011) by the joint effort of ISTAT and CNEL, which has developed the "Fair and Sustainable Wellness" (BES), divided into 12 domains and 130 indicators, with the aim of analysing the quality of life and the state of development of the country, going beyond the information provided by GDP. Furthermore, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, approved in New York on September 2015, have endeavoured to integrate economic, social and environmental sustainability. The Agenda, through a complex system based on 17 objectives, 169 goals, and over 240 indicators, will monitor for the next 15 years the process of changing the development model of each country, which will then be assessed periodically by the UN. The17 objectives are aimed at integrating three facets of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) into a single shared program that provides specific operating procedures for the implementation of these OSS. In this context, in Italy on 3 February 2016, the representatives of 130 entities and networks of civil society composed of foundations, research centres, universities, associations and other organizations working on the theme of sustainable and inclusive growth formed the Italian Alliance for the Sustainable Development (ASviS). Its mission is to raise awareness in Italian society on the importance of the UN 2030 Agenda, so as to promote a culture of sustainability, guide production and consumption models, contribute to the definition of an Italian strategy for the development of the OSS, and to prepare a system for monitoring the relative progress of the country. The first ASviS Report was released in September 2016.

Instruments to measure the generational divide
The first model for measuring the generation divide is the Intergenerational Fairness Index, developed by the United Kingdom's Intergenerational Foundation. It presents a taxonomy consisting of nine domains: unemployment, access to housing, pensions, public debt, democratic participation, health, income, environmental impact and education. The latter, in particular, is very complex and includes a set of four indicators: namely, the level of public expenditure in education, the average expenses for obtaining a diploma, the rate of high school completion and rate of scholarships. The aim of Intergenerational Fairness is to provide a cross-country comparison, from the point of view of the delay accumulated by the new European generations in achieving their social and economic maturity.

Among the Commonwealth countries, and particularly in Australia, the Youth Development Index (YDI) has been created, composed of 18 indicators that measure the economic, social and cultural development of young people (aged between 15 and 29 years ) in 183 countries. This second measurement tool includes five main domains: namely education (average rate of school attendance, expenditure in the educational sector, youth literacy etc.), health / well-being (infant mortality rate, rate of youth drugs consumption, children’s pregnancy rate, the percentage of young people affected by HIV and smoking etc.), work (youth unemployment rate, youth employment rate), political participation (detection of youth policies, youth political representation, education on voting, the political opinions of young people etc.) and active citizenship of young people (youth volunteering, solidarity towards foreigners etc.) The results give Italy, on a scale of zero (no development for young people) to one (maximum development for young people), 0.70 points. In the YDI world ranking, Italy is in 50th position, which is a disappointing position when you consider that in the EU-27, the country is in 21st place, on an equal footing with Estonia and just in front of Bulgaria. In Europe, the first position, with an index of 0.80, is held by the Netherlands and Germany, followed by Austria, Malta, the United Kingdom and Denmark. The main tool for measuring the generational divide in Italy is the Generational Divide Index (GDI), developed by ClubdiLatina and the Bruno Visentini Foundation, which has identified 12 domains. The Generational Divide Index forecasts this divide to double in 2020 compared to 2004 and triple in 2030. This means that if a young man of twenty years old in 2004 requires 10 years to build an autonomous life, in 2020 it will take 18 years, and by 2030, 28 years, reaching full autonomy at 40 years old. Furthermore, it is estimated that the annual economic costs for an individual NEET(15-29 years) at the national level are equal to about 35 billion euros in 2016 (compared to 23.8 billion in 2011). The cost of "unexploited" human resources weighs even more heavily. As an extra burden on the state budget, we must also add the loss of competitiveness of the potential, but underutilized workforce.

The Generational Divide Index (GDI) takes into account factors that directly affect the situation of young people, such as unemployment (divided into youth unemployment and NEET), income and wealth, access to credit (Credit Crunch). In addition, factors such as education (both as an expense in education and rate of school dropouts), health (as well as access to health services and perceptions of healthcare), and the possibility of access to pensions (and related costs on the system) are measured. Regarding the housing question, (that is, housing costs, building permits and accessibility to homes), the network of available infrastructures (of a technological nature, i.e. the Digital Divide, are measured as a use of E-Government, interaction with citizens and digital infrastructure), territorial mobility (in particular, the time that young people take to get to work or study) and climate change (caused by pollutants, such as the greenhouse effect and CO2). To obtain a more in-depth analysis, factors that have an indirect impact on the generation divide, but which contribute to its increase (indirectly) were also examined; these factors are democratic participation (which includes trust in parties, participation in voting and the average age of politicians), legality and public debt.

Proposals to reduce the generational divide
Various proposals have been put forward to address the generational divide and bridge the divide between young people and other generations, from politicians, economics experts, foundations and associations.

The current INPS President, Tito Boeri, has supported the need to reduce the dualism of the labour market, the tax burden on labour and to improve labour productivity to help reduce youth employment. Initially, he was critical of the effectiveness of the generational delay strategy, however he now supports it. In various articles, Tommaso Nannicini and the same Boeri have postulated the idea of a contributory recalculation of retirement pensions with a progressive and proportional levy. They have proposed three different options: the first consists of a small levy for all pensioners with a certain monthly income with a fixed rate; the second provides for a monthly levy with a more progressive rate and a higher tax rate; the third is a very small sample with a high rate. Nannicini also recently proposed a pension guarantee for young people. The Bruno Visentini Foundation has suggested a proportionate intervention aimed at two levels: that of the social disadvantage in general (of which youth problems are an important component), by reshaping the imposition in redistributive terms, based on the different attitudes to contribution due to tax maturity ; and that of the generation divide, with the introduction of a temporary solidarity contribution from pensioners with higher pensions, using a progressive approach that respects the contributory capacity of the taxpayer involved. Moreover, the Bruno Visentini Foundation has proposed the creation of a fund for youth policies, which is able to finance youth policy measures, through financial contributions and tax breaks, and the creation of financial instruments that are able to maximise the policies effectiveness. These measures can be of four types: generational, non-generational by destination, non-generational by nature, non-generational by object, according to their purpose and degree of incidence with respect to one or more indicators of the generational divide.