In this chapter, we analyse the effects of PAYG and funded pension systems on welfare. The debate on the choice between alternative systems focuses on their effects on savings, capital accumulation, labour supply, economic growth and inequality and the potential benefits of mixed systems in...

Several recent studies have examined the steady-state welfare implications of mortality differentials within unfunded Social Security systems, concluding that these differentials undermine the progressivity of the system and make society worse-off relative to alternative public pension schemes....

We examine the impact of a stylized pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) Social Security program in an economy of overlapping generations with equilibrium growth. We adopt realistic mortality and other demographic assumptions and allow for the presence or absence of full life annuities. In all cases we find...

We analyse long-term consumption paths in a dynamic two-sector economy with overlapping generations. Each young generation saves for the retirement age, both with private savings and pension funds. The productivity of each sector can be raised by sector-specific research while the essential use...

We propose a framework for understanding recurrent historical episodes of vigorous economic expansion accompanied by extreme asset valuations, as exhibited by the U.S. in the 1990s. We interpret this phenomenon as a high-valuation equilibrium with a low effective cost of capital based on...