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Pensions and fertility: in search of a link

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  • Firouz Gahvari

Abstract

In overlapping generations models with endogenous fertility wherein the retired partake of consumption but do not contribute to production (through their labor), fertility has a positive and a negative externality. These can be internalized through a child allowance (or tax) or a linkage between pension benefits and the number of children. The prescription rest crucially on the assumption that no parents are better than others in raising their children and that fertility can be perfectly controlled. When either of these two assumptions are violated, the case for such policy recommendations are greatly weakened. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

Suggested Citation

  • Firouz Gahvari, 2009. "Pensions and fertility: in search of a link," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(4), pages 418-442, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:16:y:2009:i:4:p:418-442
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-009-9114-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Cipriani, Giam Pietro & Pascucci, Francesco, 2020. "Pension policies in a model with endogenous fertility," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 109-125, January.
    2. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2013. "Childbearing Age, Family Allowances, and Social Security," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(2), pages 385-413, October.
    3. Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte, 2017. "The long-term determinants of marital fertility in the developed world (19th and 20th centuries): The role of welfare policies," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(42), pages 1255-1298.
    4. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Pestieau, Pierre, 2011. "Fertility, human capital accumulation, and the pension system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1272-1279.
    5. Gahvari, Firouz & Beach, Randy, 2016. "On the optimal linkage of social security benefits to payroll taxes," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 110-121.
    6. Pan, Jiun-Nan & Yang, Yan-Jie, 2020. "The impact of economic uncertainty on the decision of fertility: Evidence from Taiwan," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pay-as-you-go; Overlapping generations; Endogenous fertility; Externality of fertility; Stochastic fertility; Moral hazard; Parents’ heterogeneity; Adverse selection; H55; J13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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