Growth and equality effects of pension plans

We investigate the balanced growth effects of pension plans on the rate of growth and on equalityin a closed economy where individual decisions about education are the engine of growth. We distinguish between pay-as-you-go and fully-funded pension systems and differentiate between three different benefit rules: a Beveridgean one (benefits are identical for all agents), a Bismarckian (earnings related) one depending on one's entire earnings history or a Bismarckian one depending on one's partial earnings history. Interestingly, in the latter case the steady state rate of growth is increasing in the rate of contributions.