640% of GDP

That would be the steady state equilibrium size of a Finnish model pension fund, assuming an elderly dependency ratio of 44% by 2050, up from currently about 23%. This is one of the interesting numbers that yet another central banker, Mr Erkki Liikanen of the Bank of Finland, has quoted in his recent address to the Conference of Social Security Actuaries and Statisticians.

There is a lot of interesting food for thought in that speech. I have just one question mark concerning the conclusions, where Mr Liikanen claims that "the volumes needed for financing pensions mean [that] the system will always have to be based on a public PAYG scheme". We think that always is an awfully long time. Mr Liikanen does not specify why funded systems should be unable to reach the required level of funding in the course of a generation or so.