We study the aggregate effects of a social security reform in a large overlapping generations model where markets are incomplete and households face uninsurable idiosyncratic income shocks. We depart from the previous literature by assuming that, because of lack of commitment in the credit...

In this paper we analyze changes in the conditional distributions of male earnings in Spain during the 1980s. We use a large new database of records on individual workers and firms from the Spanish Social Security system for the period 1980-1987. The data set is an unbalanced panel subject to...

In a stochastic economy with overlapping generations, fiscal policy affects the allocation of aggregate risks. The paper shows how to compute the welfare effects of marginal policy changes that shift risk across cohorts, in general and for an application to social security equity investments. I...

This paper studies the optimal trade-off between commitment and flexibility in an intertemporal consumption/savings choice model. Individuals expect to receive relevant information regarding their own situation and tastes - generating a value for flexibility - but also expect to suffer from...

In this paper we survey the features of different approaches available in the literature used to study the effects of the aging of the population on Social Security expenditures. We comment on the weaknesses and strengths of each of them, and perform a quantitative analysis by comparing the...

How far is the US social insurance system from an efficient system? We answer this question within a model where agents receive idiosyncratic, labor-productivity shocks that are privately observed. When social security and income taxation comprise the social insurance system, the maximum...

This paper analyzes the evolution of the social security system in Uruguay, from the 19th century to the re-institutionalization of the “Banco de Previsión Social” (BPS) in 1986. It is common to consider that the legislation of retirement began in 1896 with the foundation of the first fund;...

Protection of unemployed workers constituted a subject of concern in the Uruguayan politic agenda already in the early 20th century. The problem was tried to be solved basically through three instruments: retirement by dismissal (“jubilación por despido”) and unemployment insurance,...

During the first half of the 20th century the Uruguayan government tried to implement, although with no success, a general unemployment insurance (UI) scheme for workers in the private sector, which included an employment service. The only time that employers´ traditional opposition to an...