Population aging puts significant pressure on social security systems that are based mainly on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) formula and determined by the political process in which both retirees and future retirees participate. This paper demonstrates that in an economic and demographic steady state,...

Private transfers between individuals or through organized charities are increasingly viewed as an alternative for government social insurance programs. This paper models the incentive effects of government subsidized private transfers and finds that while there is a significant welfare benefit...

It is shown that the inefficiencies created by the “soft” budget constraint, enjoyed by enterprises in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, will continue so long as governments are unable credibly to threaten not to bail out loss-makers. Commitment to a “hard” budget constraint can best be...

This paper examines the impact of social security on welfare. The provision of social security reduces precautionary savings and encourages early retirement. Consequently, it lowers aggregate capital, employment, output, and consumption. On the other hand, it also provides old age insurance....

This paper analyses the role of social safety nets in the form of redistributional transfers and wage subsidies. It is argued that public welfare programs can be viewed as a crime-preventing or disruption-preventing devices because they tend to increase the opportunity cost of engaging in crime...

This report discusses Indonesia’s social policy response to Covid-19 as well as the public’s response to this policy response. It finds that the Indonesian social policy response to the pandemic was mainly through reallocations within the government budget to finance targeted social safety...

Argentina’s initial social policy response to Covid-19 focused on protecting employment, wages and basic living conditions. Key policies included cash transfers and food programs for vulnerable families, wage subsidies for private sector workers and subsidized loans for firms and self-employed...

As a major hub for global trade and travel, Singapore was badly affected by the Covid-19 global pandemic. However, the city-state has since managed to curb local transmission of the coronavirus and return employment levels to pre-pandemic levels. These positive outcomes are a result of...

The new coronavirus has turned out to be an unprecedented and unexpected crisis which has led to rethinking healthcare, public safety and socio-economic policies. Severe problems have manifested themselves in these areas in Georgia, a developing country with below average income levels and high...