How much retirement income is needed in order to maintain one’s living standard at old age? As it is difficult to find a firm basis for an empirical treatment of this question, we employ a novel approach to assessing an adequate replacement rate vis-à-vis income in the pre-retirement period....

If the combined retirement income, provided by public and private defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, falls below socially acceptable standards, there is a political risk that consensus seeker policymakers could yield to pressures to commit future fiscal revenues. These contingent...

If the combined retirement income, provided by public and private defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, falls below socially acceptable standards, there is a political risk that consensus seeker policymakers could yield to pressures to commit future fiscal revenues. These contingent...

Although the optimal policy under endogenous fertility has been widely studied, the optimal public intervention under endogenous childbearing age has remained largely unexplored. This paper examines the optimal family policy in a context where the number and the timing of births are chosen by...

In 1989, an early retirement program (AFP) was introduced in Norway, with an eligibility age gradually decreasing from 66 to 62, and now covering about two thirds of the labour force. To assess the impact on the labour force we estimate a multinomial logit model for transitions between labour...

This paper describes how a child allowance policy and income transfer to older people policy alter fertility and economic growth under a pay-as-you-go pension system. Moreover, this paper presents ways to finance such policies: one for income taxation and the other for consumption tax. The...

In order to estimate labour supply responses among older people we have employed a very simple model of retirement decisions that can be estimated on a single cross-section sample, and still be given a structural interpretation in terms of inter-temporal decisions. The model is estimated on...

The recent financial crisis has clearly demonstrated the exposure of defined contribution (DC) pension scheme members to extreme financial market risks. This paper argues that the government might offer DC plan members a minimum return guarantee, funded by risk based premia. Option pricing...

Recent social security reform has significantly improved the long-run sustainability of the pension system. However, the pension system continues to serve as an important barrier to a more rapid expansion of the formal-sector economy in two ways. First, early-retirement incentives (including...

This paper analyses the effects of rumours and changes in life expectancy in an economywith endogenous fertility and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pensions. We show that the endogeneity of fertility makes society vulnerable to both pessimistic beliefs and an increasing life span. On the one hand, rumours...