The abolition or reform of unfunded pensions will generally make members of a transitional generation worse-off, because of the "double burden" of funding their own retirement along with that of paying off the unfunded pension liability. Reform will also lower the time-path of interest rates,...

A switch from a Bismarckian (BIS) earnings-related to a Beveridgean (BEV) flat ratepay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension scheme will raise the variance of personal replacementratios and, hence, the variance of individual interest-saving elasticities. A monopolisticfinancial sector can then make greater...

If unfunded pensions crowd-out private savings, pensions reform should raise the timepath of capital. Even if reform has long-run benefits, there will still be a “doubleburden”problem for a transitional generation. Assuming that there is an asset whichdiscounts the present value of an income...

In this paper I study how PAYG pension systems of the notional defined contribution type can be designed such that they remain financially stable in the presence of increasing life expectancy. For this to happen two crucial parameters must be set in an appropriate way. First, the remaining life...

This paper presents a dense summary of the most fundamental results on the issue of PAYG Social Security. They are presented in a simple and insightful analytical framework by working from the budget constraint of the household. The results presented in detail are a representation of the...

In several developed countries, the ageing process of the population may pose fiscal risks to the PAYG systems of public pensions. This paper studies the determinants of two forms of accessing retirement in Spain, either partial or full retirement. Our goal is to identify if social security...

We characterize pension systems along three dimensions: 1) actuarial vs. non-actuarial, 2) funded vs. pay-as-you-go, 3) defined-contribution vs. defined-benefit. Increasing the degree of actuarial fairness, by strengthening the linkage between contributions and benefits, reduces labor market...

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...

As one possible solution to the well-known financing crisis of unfunded social security systems, an increase in the retirement age is a popular option. To induce workers to retire later, it has been proposed to strengthen the link between retirement age and benefit level. The present paper is...

We suggest a political economy explanation for the stylized fact that intragenerationally more redistributive social security systems are smaller. Our key insight is that linking benefits to past earnings (less redistributiveness) reduces the efficiency cost of social security (due to endogenous...