Social Security Reform with Heterogeneous Agents
Abstract
This paper analyzes the quantitative role of idiosyncratic uncertainty in an economy in which rational agents vote on hypothetical social security reforms. We find that the role of a pay-as-you-go social security system as a partial insurance and redistribution device significantly reduces political support for a transition to an economy with a fully funded system. We conclude that the status quo bias in favor of an unfunded social security system is stronger in economies in which agents of similar age differ significantly with respect to labor earnings and wealth due to idiosyncratic income uncertainty. (Copyright: Elsevier)Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics in its journal Review of Economic Dynamics.
Volume (Year): 2 (1999)
Issue (Month): 4 (October)
Pages: 757-795
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Related research
Keywords: social security reform; transition; idiosyncratic uncertainty;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
- E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy
- H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
References
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