Mit der Wahl des Generalthemas "Die Zukunft des Sozialstaats" hat sich der Vorstand des Vereins für Socialpolitik für die Jahrestagung 1998 in Rostock ein Programm vorgegeben, das nicht nur beziehungsreich für den Verein, sondern auch europaweit von besonderer Aktualität ist. Die Frage nach...

As one possible solution to the well-known financing crisis of unfunded social security systems, an increase in the retirement age is a popular option. To induce workers to retire later, it has been proposed to strengthen the link between retirement age and benefit level. The present paper is...

Based on explicit present value calculations, the paper criticizes the view that the PAYGO system wastes economic resources. In present value terms, there is nothi ng to be gained from a transition to a funded system even though the latter offers a permanently higher rate of return. The sum of...

We model the optimal reaction of a public PAYG pension system to demographic shocks. We compare the ex-ante first best and second best solution of a Ramsey planner with full commitment to the outcome under simple third best rules that mimic the pension systems observed in the real world. The...