In several OECD countries, public pay-as-you-go financed pension systems have undergone major reforms in which future retirement benefit promises have been scaled down. A consequence of these reforms is that especially in countries with a tight tax-benefit linkage, the retirement benefit claims...

Based on a description of the German system of taxes and transfers, the incentives to work are analyzed for several groups of the labor force. The effects of the Hartz IVʺ reform (effective from 2005 onwards) on the incentives receive particular attention. It turns out that the marginal...

Based on a description of the German system of taxes and transfers, the incentives to work are analyzed for several groups of the labor force. The effects of the “Hartz IV"" reform (effective from 2005 onwards) on the incentives receive particular attention. It turns out that the marginal...