This paper uses the Shapley Value decomposition technique to assess the factors behind the rise of inequality in China. It finds that, in many ways, inequality may have been an inevitable by-product of China’s investment and export-led growth model. Between Chinese households, we find that the...

The paper examines Senegal’s growth performance from the perspective of its povertyreducing and distributional characteristics, and discusses policies that might help make growth more inclusive. The main findings are that poverty has fallen in the last two decades, but poverty reduction has...

The aim of this paper is to analyze unemployment and labor market developments in Algeria and assess the factors that may hamper employment creation. The results of the paper suggest that the relative low output-employment elasticities and rigid labor market are the main factors behind the still...

Pension reform is high on the policy agenda of many advanced and emerging market economies. In advanced economies the challenge is generally to contain future increases in public pension spending as the population ages. In emerging market economies, the challenges are often different. Where...

Under Social Security privatization, workers would be allowed to divert some of the money that currently goes to Social Security into private accounts. This would expose them to market risk, that is, the risk of a substantial drop in equity prices or of a prolonged bear market. This could result...

This article discusses social security reforms in Turkey in the framework of the welfare state, which started to fall in the 1970s as a result of the neoliberal paradigm promoting the interest of the capital class over the interest of the public as a whole. The article analyzes some handicaps of...

This article examines the rhetoric of the debate about Social Security. It suggests that political opportunism by Presidents Johnson and Clinton undermined the rhetorical position of supporters of Social Security. It details the approach taken by neoconservatives in their efforts to dismantle...

Social Security is a defined benefit (DB) pension plan. Proposals for "reforming" Social Security suggest replacing it with a defined contribution (DC) savings plan. This paper compares the financial and non-financial aspects of DB pensions and DC savings plans, and discusses how changing...

We analyze the influence of health and financial incentives on the retirement behavior of older workers in France, building upon Stock and Wise (1990) option value approach. The model accounts for three main retirement routes: the normal retirement, disability insurance (DI) and...

We provide a lifecycle framework for comparing the insurance value and the incentive cost of disability benefits. We estimate the risks that individuals face and the parameters governing the disability insurance program using longitudinal US data on consumption, health, disability insurance, and...