This paper extends the Diamond overlapping-generations model with pay-as-you-go social security by allowing for variable retirement age and for distortionary taxation of earnings and interest income. The tax rates are shown to depend on whether or not debt policy is available, and on the...

This paper studies human-capital formation, labor-supply, and retirement decisions associated with four alternative regimes of social security. We implement a theoretical model with overlapping generations of households and two different ability types within each generation. We find that with a...

Generational Accounting is only a shortcut to a general equilibrium analysis because it is assumed that individual decisions are unaffected by policy reforms. Nonetheless only two studies examine the accuracy of Generational Accounting, but Fehr and Kotlikoff (1996) consider changes in...

The paper examines the long-term implications of various reform options for retirement entry decisions and the actual retirement age of older workers. It focuses on the changes in pension legislation since 1992 and the reform options discussed by the German Social Security Reform Commission...

We compare a social security system where people can retire at an age of their own choice with one in which there is a legal retirement age elected through a majority voting process. We show that individuals prefer a legal retirement age higher than the one they would choose in the flexible...

The paper aims to assess tax-favored retirement accounts in a general-equilibrium overlapping-generations economy with idiosyncratic income risk and borrowing constraints. Our simulations indicate that tax-favored retirement accounts as implemented in many OECD countries will have a significant...

We identify several objectionable features of the German retirement benefit formula. Groups of insureds with higher than average life expectancy are subsidized by the rest of the members because the formula neglects differences in group-specific life expectancy. Moreover, undesirable long-run...

In this paper, we analyze how the implicit tax rate can be smoothed in a pay-as-you-go system if life expectancy increases or if the rate of population growth declines. We show that generation-specific contribution or replacement rates are necessary to smooth the implicit tax rate. Partial...

It has been believed that a social security system (SSS) is harmful to economic growth. However, it has been recognized recently that a SSS can encourage economic growth if the engine of the growth is human-capital accumulation. This paper uses an analytical model à la Uzawa/Lucas to examine...

This paper investigates the dynamic consequences of demographic change and various pension reform scenarios for Austria. The analysis is based on a computable overlapping-generations model with life-cycle labor supply, savings, and search unemployment. The public sector is decomposed into...