IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ces/eeagre/vy2005ip69-101.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chapter 4: Pensions and Children

Author

Listed:
  • Lars Calmfors
  • Giancarlo Corsetti
  • Seppo Honkapohja
  • John Kay
  • Willi Leibfritz
  • Gilles Saint-Paul
  • Hans-Werner Sinn
  • Xavier Vives

Abstract

This chapter is a primer of key economic issues in the reform of pension systems in the EU. The chapter begins with an overview on the strains on European pension systems that loom ahead as a result of the ageing populations in the EU countries. The old-age dependency ratios are forecasted to grow to very high levels, which has major fiscal implications, as the pension system is, to a large extent, a part of the public sector. The chapter discusses principles for reforms of the pension systems that are needed to fix the emerging budget problems and to improve efficiency. The strain can be relieved to some extent by increasing the retirement age and lowering pension benefits, as well as by adopting more general structural policies that enhance economic growth. Our key recommendation is to add a funded pillar to the existing pay-as-you-go systems, to mitigate the missing human capital (due to ageing) by adding incentives for real capital formation. Moreover, the pay-as-you-go pension could be differentiated according to the number of children, provided individually tailored savings plans for the funded pillar are designed to ensure a sufficient level of overall pensions for the childless.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Calmfors & Giancarlo Corsetti & Seppo Honkapohja & John Kay & Willi Leibfritz & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Xavier Vives, 2005. "Chapter 4: Pensions and Children," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 69-101, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:eeagre:v::y:2005:i::p:69-101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/eeag_report_chap4_2005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heikki Oksanen, 2004. "Pension reforms: an illustrated basic analysis," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 201, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    2. Heikki Oksanen, 2003. "Population ageing and public finance targets," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 196, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    3. Robert Fenge & Martin Werding, 2004. "Ageing and the tax implied in public pension schemes: simulations for selected OECD countries," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 159-200, June.
    4. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2005. "Europe’s Demographic Deficit A Plea For A Child Pension System," De Economist, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 1-45, December.
    5. James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian & Andrew Metrick, 2001. "Defined Contribution Pensions: Plan Rules, Participant Decisions, and the Path of Least Resistance," NBER Working Papers 8655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Robert Fenge & Martin Werding, 2003. "Ageing and Fiscal Imbalances Across Generations: Concepts of Measurement," CESifo Working Paper Series 842, CESifo.
    7. Peter Diamond, 2004. "Social Security," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Sinn, Hans-Werner, 2000. "Why a Funded Pension System is Useful and Why It is Not Useful," Munich Reprints in Economics 19859, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    9. Bernard Casey & Howard Oxley & Edward Whitehouse & Pablo Antolín & Romain Duval & Willi Leibfritz, 2003. "Policies for an Ageing Society: Recent Measures and Areas for Further Reform," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 369, OECD Publishing.
    10. Heikki Oksanen, 2004. "Pension Reforms: An Illustrated Basic Analysis," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 50(3), pages 569-625.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. McPherson, Lynne & Vosz, Meaghan & Gatwiri, Kathomi & Parmenter, Natalie & Macnamara, Noel & Mitchell, Janise & Tucci, Joe, 2021. "What does research tell us about young people’s participation in decision making in residential care? A systematic scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heikki Oksanen, 2005. "Actuarial Neutrality across Generations Applied to Public Pensions under Population Ageing: Effects on Government Finances and National Saving," CESifo Working Paper Series 1501, CESifo.
    2. Heikki Oksanen, 2004. "Public Pensions in the national accounts and public finance targets," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 207, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    3. Oksanen, Heikki, 2014. "Public finance sustainability gap and raising the retirement age, abstract and full summary," Research Reports 177, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Roel Beetsma & Heikki Oksanen, 2008. "Pensions under Ageing Populations and the EU Stability and Growth Pact ," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(4), pages 563-592, December.
    5. Carlos Vidal-Meliá & Mar𨁤el Carmen Boado-Penas, 2013. "Compiling the actuarial balance for pay-as-you-go pension systems. Is it better to use the hidden asset or the contribution asset?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1303-1320, April.
    6. Martin Werding, 2005. "Survivor Benefits and the Gender Tax Gap in Public Pension Schemes: Observations from Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 1596, CESifo.
    7. Heikki Oksanen, 2009. "Setting targets for government budgets in the pursuit of intergenerational equity," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 358, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Roel Beetsma & Heikki Oksanen, 2007. "Pension Systems, Ageing and the Stability and Growth Pact," CESifo Working Paper Series 2141, CESifo.
    9. Heikki Oksanen, 2004. "Public Pensions in the National Accounts and Public Finance Targets," CESifo Working Paper Series 1214, CESifo.
    10. Fabio Pammolli & Pietro Rizza & Nicola Carmine Salerno, 2004. "Regole pensionistiche e incentivi al prolungamento della vita lavorativa: analisi del caso italiano," Working Papers CERM 06-2004, Competitività, Regole, Mercati (CERM).
    11. Kerstin Roeder, 2014. "Optimal taxes and pensions with myopic agents," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(3), pages 597-618, March.
    12. Walter Fisher & Christian Keuschnigg, 2010. "Pension reform and labor market incentives," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 769-803, March.
    13. Michal Slavík, 2006. "The Czech Pension System and the Perspectives of Its Reform," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2006(3), pages 214-230.
    14. Martin Werding, 2005. "Survivor Benefits and the Gender Tax-Gap in Public Pension Schemes Work Incentives and Options for Reform," ifo Working Paper Series 7, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    15. Robert Fenge & Beatrice Scheubel, 2017. "Pensions and fertility: back to the roots," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 93-139, January.
    16. van Sonsbeek, Jan-Maarten, 2010. "Micro simulations on the effects of ageing-related policy measures," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 968-979, September.
    17. Zvi Bodie & Jérôme Detemple & Marcel Rindisbacher, 2009. "Life-Cycle Finance and the Design of Pension Plans," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 249-286, November.
    18. Sánchez Martín, Alfonso R., 2010. "Endogenous retirement and public pension system reform in Spain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 336-349, January.
    19. Fabio Pammolli & Nicola Carmine Salerno, 2004. "Regole pensionistiche e prolungamento dell'attività: analisi del TIR e effetti del cumulo lavoro-pensione," Working Papers CERM 07-2004, Competitività, Regole, Mercati (CERM).
    20. Robert Fenge & Silke Uebelmesser & Martin Werding, 2006. "On the Optimal Timing of Implicit Social Security Taxes Over the Life Cycle," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 62(1), pages 68-107, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:eeagre:v::y:2005:i::p:69-101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.