Feldstein [1985] posed the questions of what would be the optimal level of retirement benefit, and what would be the optimal mix between the pay-as-you-go system and the funded pension system under the assumption of an exogenous interest rate. We reconsider the problem with the addition of a...

In this paper we model an OLG-economy where labour supply is endogenously determined and where we assume that there are two pension systems, namely, a pay-as-you-go system and a funded system. The main question is whether there is an equilibrium involving an old-age pensions system, partly...

This paper examines recent U.S. Census Bureau data on labor-force participation among Americans age 55 and older, including what happened to the trends after the economic recession that started in late 2007-early 2008. The first section uses annualized data on labor-force participation from the...

Because of demographic changes, the Social Security system in the United States will face financial challenges in the near future. Declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancies are causing the U.S. population to age. Today, 12 percent of the total population is aged 65 or older, but...

The aging of the U.S. population will be a critical public policy issue in the years ahead. This paper surveys the recent literature on the economics of aging, with a special emphasis on government spending on the aged. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the proportion of the elderly in the...

This paper looks at one slice of the income pie of the older population: retirement annuities and employment-based pensions. It analyzes the population age 50 and over in order to take into account the prevalence of early retirement options available to individuals beginning at age 50. Recent...

This paper looks at one slice of the income pie of the older population: retirement annuities and employment-based defined benefit (DB) pensions. It analyzes the population age 50 and over in order to take into account the prevalence of early retirement options available to individuals beginning...

The political discourse on demographic change has gained momentum in many developed countries. Whereas in its beginning the discussion centred on the question of how to politically influence population ageing (e.g. by raising fertility rates), political decision makers now seem to be concerned...