Social security programs generally seek to provide insurance and to reduce poverty and inequality. Providing insurance requires little redistribution. But reducing inequality and alleviating poverty do require redistribution. To reduce inequality, programs must redistribute income, but...

Faced with the need to adjust public pension systems to meet changing demographic, economic and social conditions, most developed countries have created government reserve funds to ensure macroeconomic sustainability. This paper aims to study the importance that this reserve fund plays in the...

Most European Union countries are facing with major problems regarding their public pension systems. Romania has large difficulties in its public pension system, of which we consider the most important is the large number of beneficiaries and the small number of contributors, that determine a...

The demographic change is posing many challenges for government budgets. In the face of a shrinking work force, keeping the number of workers and thus pension contributors at the highest possible level is a key economic policy goal. This could be achieved if people retire from the work force...

In an overlapping generations economy with incomplete insurance markets, the introduction of an employment fund-akin to the one introduced in Austria in 2003, also known as 'Austrian backpack'-can enhance production efficiency and social welfare. It complements the two classical systems of...

This paper analyzes the reform of the pensionable age as an answer to the future financing problems of public pension systems. We use a two-staged model where, first, the government decides the redistribution level of the pension system and, secondly, individuals face a voting process on 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...

Mit dem Altersvermögens- und Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetz (2001) vollzog sich ein Paradigmenwechsel in der Alterssicherung hin zu einem verstärkt eigenverantwortlichen Aufbau kapitalgedeckter Altersvorsorge. Das Versorgungsniveau im Alter hängt in der Folge zunehmend von dem...