This paper studies the impact of an unfunded social security system on the distribution of bequests in a framework where savings are due both by life cycle and by random altruistic motivations. We show that the impact of social security on the distribution of bequests depends crucially on the...

The high profile bankruptcy filing by the City of Detroit, Michigan, has brought to the fore the relationship between pension underfunding and the financial difficulties faced by an increasing number of municipalities and states in the United States. The problem is likely to continue to grow...

The three pillars of a pension system are defined in varied ways. The author focuses on a definition provided by the World Bank in its 1994 Report. He argues that with a universal Pillar 1 (a flat, subsistence pension) there is no need for Pillar 2 (earnings-related pensions). Pillar 3...

This study evaluates the positive and negative features of the German public pension system and discusses three reasons for its increasing perceived and real difficulties: maturation, negative incentive effects, and the problems of demographic change. The German system in its current form may be...

The paper examines projections of the fiscal liabilities of public pension programmes in a number of OECD countries. It investigates the reasons why many countries have built up such liabilities in the past and critically appraises the future projections of pension costs. It examines the...

This paper studies whether the impact of a cash transfer on child nutritional status is affected by the gender of its recipient. In the early 1990's, the benefits and coverage of the South African social pension program were expanded for the Black population. In 1993, the benefits were about...

This Article explores the influence of the pension system on corporate governance, which has so far received little attention in the corporate law literature. While the shareholder-centric view of corporate governance is strong today, this is a relatively recent development. “Managerial...

Unfunded public pension systems are primarily justified on grounds that many individuals lack sufficient capacity to appropriately save for retirement. We begin with a review of the known principle that a standard life-cycle/permanent-income consumer who discounts the future at an exponential...

We present a rule-of-thumb consumption model with participation in a Save More Tomorrow (SMarT) plan, and we analytically derive the fraction of life-cycle wage increases that must be saved to offset a reduction in social security benefits resulting from an aging population (holding taxes fixed...

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...