Neutron J = 0 states in even-N nuclei are calculated with a pairing force, using the boson expansion method. All regions of isotopes which are close to a fairly good shell-closure are covered, and a comparison is made between calculated and experimental two-nucleon transfer cross sections. In general we find a remarkably good agreement, even for the ground state mass systematics, suggesting that for the isotopes under consideration the simple pairing intersection is the dominant producer of ground state correlations. A lack of agreement with experiments in certain regions is proposed to be connected with couplings to definite other degrees of freedom under the influence of predominantly particle-hole interactions. © 1969.