Options for reforming unfunded public pension schemes that are now being discussed all share the feature that the burden induced by demographic change would be shifted towards presently living and away from unborn generations. Existing models of the political economy of pension reform can not...

Diese Arbeit untersucht die Auswirkungen einer Erhöhung der Lebensarbeitszeit für den Beitragssatz einer umlagefinanzierten Rentenversicherung. Dabei werden die von der längeren Lebensarbeitszeit betroffenen Personen durch versicherungsmathematische Zuschläge entschädigt. Es wird gezeigt,...

In this paper we analyse the possibility to construct intergenerational criteria of choice within the framework of methodological individualism. The main result of this analysis is, that intergenerational criteria as an aggregation of preferences of current and future individuals do not exist....

An examination of the subset of public choice models for Social Security that have empirical implications. The data, collected from OECD countries for the years 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990, show that higher median voter age, greater income heterogeneity, similarity in family size, and variables...

In many countries, social health insurance systems are being reformed in favor of more competition among insurers, while premiums are community rated by regulation. The implicit incentives for insurers to engage in risk selection can only be curtailed using appropriate systems of risk-adjusted...

Due to the rapid progress in medical technology social insurance systems will soon no longer be able to grant health services without limits but must employ non-price rationing devices. This raises the question how these limits will be determined. Here we consider a direct democracy where the...

In the expected-utility theory of the monetary value of a statistical life, the so-called “dead-anyway” effect discovered by Pratt and Zeckhauser (1996) asserts that an individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for small reductions in mortality risk increases with the initial level of risk....