Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World

A wide-ranging comparative analysis of the effects of pension reforms on the income distribution among retirees. Pension reforms enacted in many developed economies since the late 1990s increased labor force participation among older workers. Did they also generate greater inequality in retirement income? Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: The Effects of Pension Reforms on the Income Distribution of Retirees examines whether these reforms redistributed social security wealth in ways that disproportionately benefited or harmed retirees at different points in the income distribution. The chapters present country-specific analyses for Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Using microdata and counterfactual simulations, they find a quite varied picture: in six of the ten countries studied, pension reform reduced income inequality among retirees, while in three countries the reforms expanded it. Across countries, benefit-level changes, rather than behavioral responses to altered retirement incentives, account for most of the redistributive impact. In countries that cut benefits uniformly, lower-income retirees suffered more than higher-income retirees due to shorter life expectancies. When new programs supplemented across-the-board cuts with support for lower earners, however, inequality declined.