This paper evaluates the welfare effects from labor-supply distortions in the context of a pre-funded social security scheme. The central feature of the pension fund model is that equity risk manifests itself in the form of implicit taxes and subsidies on the labor earnings of participants. The...

We explore the quantitative implications of uncertainty about the length of life and a lack of annuity markets for life cycle consumption in a general equilibrium overlapping generations model in which markets are otherwise complete. Empirical studies find that consumption tends to rise early in...

We explore the quantitative implications of uncertainty about the length of life and a lack of annuity markets for life cycle consumption in a general equilibrium overlapping generations model in which markets are otherwise complete. Empirical studies find that consumption tends to rise early in...

When the challenges of population aging are being debated, the uncertain future of pension systems is a topic of high priority and large controversy. The aim of this chapter is not to provide a “consensus view” on social security and public insurance in aging populations but to put structure...

When giving to one charity, individuals face two types of uncertainty, descriptive and normative. We report a between-subjects charitable-giving experiment which provides first data on normative uncertainty (n=1890). In our experiment, participants can bid for either descriptive information,...

Previous work on the effects of intergenerational transfers has implied that such transfers benefit recipients by insuring against labor market risks. Allowing for equilibrium labor market responses, however, one would expect the aggregate level of transfers to affect the distribution of wages...