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Time-Inconsistent Preferences And Social Security

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Author Info
Ayse Imrohoroglu
Selahattin Imrohoroglu
Douglas H. Joines

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Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of social security in an economy populated by overlapping generations of individuals with time-inconsistent preferences who face mortality risk, individual income risk, and borrowing constraints. We find that unfunded social security lowers the capital stock, output, and consumption for consumers with time-consistent or time-inconsistent preferences. However, it may raise or lower welfare depending on the strength of time inconsistency. © 2001 the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 118 (2003)
Issue (Month): 2 (May)
Pages: 745-784
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:qjecon:v:118:y:2003:i:2:p:745-784

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Roger H. Gordon & Hal R. Varian, 1985. "Intergenerational Risk Sharing," NBER Working Papers 1730, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. B. Douglas Bernheim & Jonathan Skinner & Steven Weinberg, 1997. "What Accounts for the Variation in Retirement Wealth Among U.S. Households?," NBER Working Papers 6227, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Friedman, Benjamin M & Warshawsky, Mark J, 1990. "The Cost of Annuities: Implications for Saving Behavior and Bequests," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 135-54, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. David I. Laibson, 1996. "Hyperbolic Discount Functions, Undersaving, and Savings Policy," NBER Working Papers 5635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Andrew Caplin & John Leahy, 2001. "The social discount rate," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 137, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Ayse Imrohoroglu & Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Douglas H. Joines, 1999. "Social Security in an Overlapping Generations Economy with Land," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 2(3), pages 638-665, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Laibson, David, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(2), pages 443-77, May.
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  24. Imrohoroglu, Selahattin, 1999. "The risk-sharing implications of alternative social security arrangements : A comment," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 261-269, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  34. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1977. "Rules Rather Than Discretion: The Inconsistency of Optimal Plans," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 473-91, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Faruk Gul & Wolfgang Pesendorfer, 2003. "Self-control, revealed preference and consumption choice," Levine's Bibliography 506439000000000362, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Sergio Guimarães Ferreira, 2004. "Social Security Reforms under an Open Economy: The Brazilian Case," Revista Brasileira de Economia, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), vol. 58(3), April. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alessandro Bucciol, 2006. "The Roles of Temptation and Social Security in Explaining Individual Behavior," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0032, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno". [Downloadable!]
  4. Erik Hurst & Paul Willen, 2004. "Social Security and unsecured debt," Public Policy Discussion Paper 04-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Helmuth Cremer & Philippe de Donder & Darío Maldonado & Pierre Pestieau, 2008. "Forced Saving, Redistribution and Nonlinear Social Security Schemes," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Matteo Bassi, 2008. "An Egg Today and a Chicken Tomorrow: A Model of Social Security with Quasi-Hyperbolic Discounting," CSEF Working Papers 205, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  7. Frank N. Caliendo & Emin Gahramanov, 2008. "Hunting the Unobservables for Optimal Social Security: A General Equilibrium Approach," Economics Series 2008_10, Deakin University, Faculty of Business and Law, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. [Downloadable!]
  8. Helmuth Cremer & Philippe Donder & Dario Maldonado & Pierre Pestieau, 2008. "Designing a linear pension scheme with forced savings and wage heterogeneity," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 547-562, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Jianjun Miao, 2008. "Option exercise with temptation," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 473-501, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. B. Douglas Bernheim & Antonio Rangel, 2008. "Beyond Revealed Preference: Choice Theoretic Foundations for Behavioral Welfare Economics," NBER Working Papers 13737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Manuel Amador & Ivan Werning & George-Marios Angeletos, 2003. "Commitment Vs. Flexibility," NBER Working Papers 10151, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Hans Fehr & Christian Habermann & Fabian Kindermann, 2008. "Social Security with Rational and Hyperbolic Consumers," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(4), pages 884-903, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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