This paper uses a heterogeneous-agent overlapping-generations model to examine the fiscal and distributional consequences of introducing a means test in US Social Security. I find that a means test, that is, conditioning benefit payments on a household's earnings or assets, leads to a higher...

Over the past two decades, the share of individuals claiming Social Security at the Early Eligibility Age has dropped and the average retirement age has increased. At the same time, Social Security rules have changed substantially, employer-sponsored retirement plans have shifted from defined...

Aims: We analyzed the redistributive outcomes for sickness benefits using a typology of social insurance institutions compared to external factors for sickness risk. Material: Unbalanced panel data of the Luxembourg Income Study on household earnings, sickness benefits and labour force...

Spousal and survivor pensions are two important provisions of the US Social Security pension system. In this paper, we assess the impact of these benefits on the female employment rate in the context of a full life‐cycle model in which households decide on female labor supply and savings. One...

Differences in life expectancy between high and low socioeconomic groups are often large and have widened recently in many countries. Such longevity gaps affect the actuarial fairness and progressivity of public pension systems. However, behavioral responses to longevity and policy complicate...

We suggest a political economy explanation for the stylized fact that intragenerationally more redistributive social security systems are smaller. We relate the stylized fact to an "efficiency-redistribution" trade-off to be resolved by political process. The inefficiency of social security...

Fast zwanzig Jahre nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung gibt es immer noch erhebliche regionale Einkommensunterschiede zwischen West- und Ostdeutschland. Der Artikel soll zeigen, wie die Transferzahlungen des Staates diese Einkommensdisparitäten ausgleichen. In einem ersten Schritt untersuchen...