The issue of Social Security reform is of critical if not unrivaled importance — and not just because the program is headed for insolvency as the baby boomers enter retirement. Lawmakers continue to introduce Social Security reform legislation, some proposing far-reaching structural changes...

Taking the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a reference point, this paper looks at social protection in developing economies, which are beset by economic stagnation, widespread poverty and unemployment. If the main breadwinner dies, is unable to work or is an older person, these factors are prime...

The German Federal Government has expanded subsidies for employees with low gross wages (midijob employees) as of January 1, 2023, and raised the upper earnings limit to 2,000 euros. As a result, around 6.2 million midijob employees will benefit from paying reduced social security contributions...

I study the impact of old-age assistance on mortality using the introduction of public pensions in the UK in 1909 as a quasi-natural experiment. Exploiting the newly created pension eligibility age through a difference-in-difference as well as an event-time design, I show that elderly mortality...

Despite its centrality in monetary policy, communication is not a focus in social security reform. We investigate the potential for active communication to dissipate apparently widespread public confusion about the future of social security. We implement a simple information treatment in which...

Pension systems around Europe are being reformed for several decades already. Main objectives of the reforms are to enable people to have adequate income at retirement and to ensure the system's financial sustainability. Many European countries implemented policies aiming at diversification of...

How accurate are older people's expectations about their future Social Security benefits? Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, we compare respondents' observed Social Security claiming ages and benefits with subjective expectations provided during their 50s and early 60s. We...

Um die Finanzierung der gesetzlichen Rente im Umlageverfahren nachhaltig zu sichern, ist es erforderlich, dass möglichst viele Menschen bis zur Regelaltersgrenze arbeiten. Der Renteneintritt wird in der ökonomischen Theorie als individuelle Entscheidung eines Abwägens der Opportunitätskosten...

US state pension plans generally use overstated discount rates based on historical performance, creating the appearance of healthy funding at the cost of future underfunding. Conversely, adopting a US Treasury discount rate, or another alternative suggested by previous literature, would cause...