On the Political Complementarity between Health Care and Social Security

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On the Political Complementarity between Health Care and Social Security

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Carlos Bethencourt
Vincenzo Galasso

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Abstract

The dramatic rise in the US social security and public health expenditure is only partially explained by the demographic trend, and may be due to the political complementarity between these two programs. We suggest that public health care increases the political constituency in favor of social security, and viceversa. Specifically, public health decreases the longevity differential between low and high-income individuals, therefore rising the retirement period, and the total pension benefits of the former relatively to the latter. This increases the political support for social security among the low-income young. We show that in a political equilibrium of a two-dimensional majoritarian election, a voting majority of low-income young and all retirees supports a large welfare state. Its composition between public health and social security is determined by intermediate (median) income types, who favor a combination of the two programs, since public health increases their longevity enough to make social security more attractive.

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Paper provided by IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University in its series Working Papers with number 184.

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Handle: RePEc:igi:igierp:184

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Paper
- Bethencourt Marrero, Carlos & Galasso, Vincenzo, 2001. "On the Political Complementarity Between Health Care and Social Security," CEPR Discussion Papers 2788, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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Other versions:
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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.)

Rainald Borck, 2003. "On the Choice of Public Pensions when Income and Life Expectancy Are Correlated," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 369, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Rainald Borck, 2007. "On the Choice of Public Pensions when Income and Life Expectancy Are Correlated," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(4), pages 711-725, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Gilles Le Garrec, 2005. "Systèmes de retraite et vieillissement," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2005-21, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE). [Downloadable!]
William B. P. Robson, 2001. "Six Pillars of Social Policy: The State of Pensions and Health Care in Canada," The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, in: Patrick Grady & Andrew Sharpe (ed.), The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, pages 183-224 Centre for the Study of Living Standards. [Downloadable!]

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