National Saving and Social Security in Italy (1954-1993).

Changes in social security laws and regulations which took place in the late sixties and early seventies apparently weakened the link between contributions and benefits permitting a time path of aggregate consumption in excess of what would have occured in the absence of such changes. In this paper, these results are revised and extended and, if anything, strengthened: slightly less than half the reduction in the private "equilibrium" saving rate observed over the last thirty years appears to be due to the increase of social security wealth.