This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Social Security in Theory and Practice (I): Facts and Political Theories

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Casey B. Mulligan
Xavier Sala-i-Martin

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

166 countries have some kind of public old age pension. What economic forces create and sustain old age Social Security as a public program? We document some of the internationally and historically common features of Social Security programs including explicit and implicit taxes on labor supply, pay-as-you-go features, intergenerational redistribution, benefits which are increasing functions of lifetime earnings and not means-tested. We partition theories of Social Security into three groups: political', efficiency' and narrative' theories. We explore three political theories in this paper: the majority rational voting model (with its two versions: the elderly as the leaders of a winning coalition with the poor' and the once and for all election' model), the time-intensive model of political competition' and the taxpayer protection model'. Each of the explanations is compared with the international and historical facts. A companion paper explores the efficiency' and narrative' theories and derives implications of all the theories for replacing the typical pay-as-you-go system with a forced savings plan.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w7118.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7118.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: May 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7118

Note: AG PE
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy-Making and Implementation

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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. Burkhauser, Richard V & Warlick, Jennifer L, 1981. "Disentangling the Annuity from the Redistributive Aspects of Social Security in the United States," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 401-21, December.
  2. Jeffrey A. Miron & David N. Weil, 1997. "The Genesis and Evolution of Social Security," NBER Working Papers 5949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Peltzman, Sam, 1980. "The Growth of Government," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 209-87, October.
    Other versions:
  4. Peter Diamond, 1998. "The Economics of Social Security Reform," NBER Working Papers 6719, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1999. "Social Security in Theory and Practice (II): Efficiency Theories, Narrative Theories, and Implications for Reform," NBER Working Papers 7119, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. 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)
  7. Feldstein, Martin S, 1985. "The Optimal Level of Social Security Benefits," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 303-20, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Peter Diamond, 1993. "Privatization of Social Security: Lessons from Chile," NBER Working Papers 4510, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Casey B Mulligan, 1999. "Gerontocracy, Retirement, and Social Security," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 154, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Easterly, William & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: An empirical investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 417-458, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Garrett, Daniel M, 1995. "The Effects of Differential Mortality Rates on the Progressivity of Social Security," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(3), pages 457-75, July.
  12. Axel Borsch-Supan & Reinhold Schnabel, 1997. "Social Security and Retirement in Germany," NBER Working Papers 6153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Robert J. Barro, 1996. "Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study," NBER Working Papers 5698, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Marten Palme & Ingemar Svensson, 1997. "Social Security, Occupational Pensions, and Retirement in Sweden," NBER Working Papers 6137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Mark McClellan & Jonathan Skinner, 1997. "The Incidence of Medicare," NBER Working Papers 6013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Feldstein, Martin S, 1976. "Perceived Wealth in Bonds and Social Security: A Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 331-36, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. John Cawley & Tomas Philipson, 1999. "An Empirical Examination of Information Barriers to Trade in Insurance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 827-846, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. Diamond, P. A., 1977. "A framework for social security analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 275-298, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Jensen, Svend E Hougaard & Raffelhuschen, Bernd, 1997. "Generational and Gender-Specific Aspects of the Tax and Transfer System in Denmark," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 615-35.
  20. Feldstein, Martin S, 1974. "Social Security, Induced Retirement, and Aggregate Capital Accumulation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(5), pages 905-26, Sept./Oct. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Paul Cashin, 1994. "Government Spending, Taxes, and Economic Growth," IMF Working Papers 94/92, International Monetary Fund.
  22. James M. Poterba, 1996. "Demographic Structure and the Political Economy of Public Education," NBER Working Papers 5677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Hagemann, Robert P & John, Christoph, 1997. "Fiscal Reform in Sweden: What Generational Accounting Tells Us," Contemporary Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 1-12, July.
  24. d'Aspremont, Claude, 1998. "Introduction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 147-148, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Palme, Mårten & Svensson, Ingemar, 1997. "Social Security, Occupational Pensions, and Retirement in Sweden," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 184, Stockholm School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  26. Michael J. Boskin & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Douglas J. Puffert & John B. Shoven, 1987. "Social Security: A Financial Appraisal Across and Within Generations," NBER Working Papers 1891, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Alan J. Auerbach & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1992. "Social security and Medicare policy from the perspective of generational accounting," Working Paper 9206, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  28. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "The Family and the State," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 1-18, April.
    Other versions:
  29. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Didier Blanchet & Louis-Paul Pele, 1997. "Social Security and Retirement in France," NBER Working Papers 6214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  31. Benjamin M. Friedman & Mark Warshawsky, 1990. "The Cost of Annuities: Implications for Saving Behavior and Bequests," NBER Working Papers 1682, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Persson, Torsten & Svensson, Lars E O, 1988. "Social Contracts as Assets: A Possible Solution to the Time-Consistency Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 662-77, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier X, 1996. " A Positive Theory of Social Security," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 2a77-304, June.
    Other versions:
  34. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1998. "Deadweight Costs and the Size of Government," NBER Working Papers 6789, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  35. Benabou, R., 1996. "Inequality and Growth," Working Papers 96-22, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  36. Browning, Edgar K, 1975. "Why the Social Insurance Budget Is Too Large in a Democracy," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 373-88, September.
  37. Tabellini, Guido, 1990. "A Positive Theory of Social Security," CEPR Discussion Papers 394, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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. Casey B. Mulligan, 2000. "Can Monopoly Unionism Explain Publicly Induced Retirement?," NBER Working Papers 7680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Song Han & Casey B. Mulligan, 2008. "Inflation and the size of government," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 245-267. [Downloadable!]
  3. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martín, 2003. "Social Security, Retirement, and the Single-Mindedness of the Electorate," Economics Working Papers 686, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Gilad Sorek, 2006. "Advancing Medical Technology, Aging Population, and Economic Growth," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_046, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  5. Canegrati, Emanuele, 2007. "On redistribution effects of public debt amongst single-minded generations," MPRA Paper 2254, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2002. "Social Security in theory and practice wth implications for reform," Discussion Papers 0203-01, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Canegrati, Emanuele, 2006. "The Single-Mindedness Theory: Micro-foundation and Applications to Social Security Systems," MPRA Paper 1223, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2007. [Downloadable!]
  8. Casey Mulligan & Tomas Philipson, . "Merit Motives and Government Intervention: Public Finance in Reverse," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 2000-03, Chicago - Population Research Center. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Emanuele, Canegrati, 2007. "A Single-Mindedness model with n generations," MPRA Paper 2548, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1999. "Gerontocracy, Retirement, and Social Security," Economics Working Papers 383, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Reed, Rob, 2003. "Age-Specific Employment Policies," Staff General Research Papers 10256, Iowa State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  12. Juan F. Jimeno, . "Incentivos y desigualdad en el sistema español de pensiones contributivas de jubilación," Working Papers 2002-13, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  13. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1999. "Social Security in Theory and Practice (II): Efficiency Theories, Narrative Theories, and Implications for Reform," Economics Working Papers 385, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Johann K. Brunner, 2002. "Welfare effects of pension finance reform," Economics working papers 2002-12, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. [Downloadable!]
  15. Jukka Lassila & Tarmo Valkonen, 2001. "Ageing, Demographic Risks, and Pension Reform," Discussion Papers 765, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  16. Drost, André & Felderer, Bernhard, 2001. "Social Security as a Monopoly," Economics Series 101, Institute for Advanced Studies. [Downloadable!]
  17. Alvaro Forteza, 1999. "Política de clientelas y reformas de la Seguridad Social en América Latina," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1899, Department of Economics - dECON. [Downloadable!]
  18. Juan F. Jimeno, . "El sistema de pensiones contributivas en España: Cuestiones básicas y perspectivas en el medio plazo," Working Papers 2000-15, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  19. Gilles Le Garrec, 2005. "Social security, inequality and growth," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2005-22, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE). [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Over five million full texts a year are downloaded through IDEAS.

This page was last updated on 2008-7-24.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.