If you have nothing to pay pensions with, you have nothing to pay pensions with. See Detroit.
For sovereigns who can print fiat money the situation is a bit more complicated but the same in medium term. The amount of money doesn’t matter, what matters is the amount of value that the country produces and which it then redistributes among people. If there is not enough value, printing money will just lead you into an inflationary spiral.
It depends on what the alternative is.
If you have nothing to pay pensions with, you have nothing to pay pensions with. See Detroit.
For sovereigns who can print fiat money the situation is a bit more complicated but the same in medium term. The amount of money doesn’t matter, what matters is the amount of value that the country produces and which it then redistributes among people. If there is not enough value, printing money will just lead you into an inflationary spiral.