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Labor income risk, demographic risk, and the design of (wage-indexed) social security

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  • Borgmann, Christoph

Abstract

Pay-as-you-go pension programs can help to share risk amongst generations. While a wage-indexed pension program is best suited to share labor income risk, I show that the combination of stochastic labor income and stochastic population growth may reduce the possibilities for intergenerational risk sharing: Labor income risk can only be shared when individuals are also exposed to demographic risk. For demographic uncertainty the usual categorization of pension programs does not suffice. I therefore introduce policies on how the demographic uncertainty is transmitted via social security. An optimal demographic indexation is derived for a small open economy and a closed economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Borgmann, Christoph, 2002. "Labor income risk, demographic risk, and the design of (wage-indexed) social security," Discussion Papers 100, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institut für Finanzwissenschaft.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:alufin:100
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    References listed on IDEAS

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