This paper explores the optimal risk sharing arrangement between generations in an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth. We allow for nonseparable preferences, paying particular attention to the risk aversion of the old as well as overall “life-cycle” risk aversion. We provide...

The abolition or reform of unfunded pensions will generally make members of a transitional generation worse-off, because of the "double burden" of funding their own retirement along with that of paying off the unfunded pension liability. Reform will also lower the time-path of interest rates,...

The paper studies a fiscal policy instrument that can reduce fiscal distortions without affecting revenues,in a politically viable way. The instrument is a private contract (tax buyout), offered by the governmentto each citizen, whereby the citizen can choose to pay a fixed price in exchange for...

Government-nanced bank restructuring programs, occasionally costing up to 50% of GDP,are commonly used to resolve banking crises. We analyze the Ramsey-optimal paths of bankrecapitalization programs that weigh recapitalization benets and costs under dierent nancingoptions. In our model bank...

This paper asks whether tax cycles can represent the optimal policy in a model without any extrinsic uncertainty. I show, in an economy without capital and where labor is the only choicevariable (a Lucas-Stokey economy), that a large class of preferences exists, where cycles are optimal, as well...

BEA’s national economic statistics provide a comprehensive view of U.S. production, consumption, investment, exports and imports, and income and saving. These statistics are best known by summary measures such as gross domestic product (GDP), corporate profits, personal income and spending,...

Die Debatte über die optimale Ausgestaltung der Alterssicherung wird in jüngster Zeit äußerst kontrovers und hitzig geführt. Dabei scheint uns ein zentraler Aspekt nicht genügend beachte zu werden: Welcher Zusammenhang besteht zwischen den Merkmalen des Finanzsystems und des...

Pay-as-you-go pension programs can help to share risk amongst generations.While a wage-indexed pension program is best suited to share labor income risk,I show that the combination of stochastic labor income and stochastic populationgrowth may reduce the possibilities for intergenerational risk...

Using data from several large scale longitudinal surveys, this paper investigates the relationship between older women‟s families histories and their personal incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany, By comparing three countries with very different welfare regimes, we seek to gain...

This paper examines the relationship between the family and work histories of olderwomen in the UK and their individual incomes in later life, using retrospective datafrom the first fifteen waves of the British Household Panel Survey. The associationsbetween women’s family histories and their...