IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_1541.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Household Saving Rates and the Design of Social Security Programmes: Evidence from a Country Panel

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Disney

Abstract

I argue that the offsetting effect of social security contributions on household retirement saving depends on how closely the social security programme imitates a private retirement saving plan (i.e. the ‘actuarial’ component of the social security programme) – the closer the design of the programme to a private retirement saving plan, the higher the offset. I estimate the determinants of household saving rates in a cross-country panel, augmenting standard measures of social security programme generosity and cost by indicators that proxy the actuarial component of the programme. These indicators affect saving rates as predicted; moreover they also affect labour force participation rates of older women (but not men). The findings are consistent with the view that more actuarially-based public programmes are treated by participants as a mandatory saving programme rather than as a tax-and-transfer system, thereby raising labour force participation rates but also increasing the programme’s substitutability for private retirement saving.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Disney, 2005. "Household Saving Rates and the Design of Social Security Programmes: Evidence from a Country Panel," CESifo Working Paper Series 1541, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1541
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp1541.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    2. Tullio Jappelli & Franco Modigliani, 2006. "The Age–Saving Profile and the Life-Cycle Hypothesis," Chapters, in: Lawrence R. Klein (ed.), Long-run Growth and Short-run Stabilization, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Casamatta, Georges & Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 2000. "Political sustainability and the design of social insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 341-364, March.
    4. Alessie, R.J.M. & Kapteyn, A. & Klijn, F.E., 1997. "Mandatory pensions and personal savings in The Netherlands," Other publications TiSEM bc6fc489-fbc1-4579-8b7d-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Leimer, Dean R & Lesnoy, Selig D, 1982. "Social Security and Private Saving: New Time-Series Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(3), pages 606-629, June.
    6. Feldstein, Martin, 1996. "Social Security and Saving: New Time Series Evidence," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(2), pages 151-64, June.
    7. Feldstein, Martin S, 1987. "Should Social Security Benefits Be Means Tested?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 468-484, June.
    8. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale, 1997. "Effects of Social Security reform on private and national saving," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue jun, pages 103-142.
    9. Feldstein, Martin, 1996. "Social Security and Saving: New Time Series Evidence," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(2), pages 151-164, June.
    10. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & John Sabelhaus, 1996. "Understanding the Postwar Decline in U.S. Saving: A Cohort Analysis," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 315-407.
    11. Erwin Ooghe & Erik Schokkaert & Jef Flechet, 2003. "The Incidence of Social Security Contributions: An Empirical Analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 81-106, June.
    12. Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2002. "Social security," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 32, pages 2245-2324, Elsevier.
    13. Pissarides, Christopher A., 1998. "The impact of employment tax cuts on unemployment and wages; The role of unemployment benefits and tax structure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 155-183, January.
    14. Assar Lindbeck & Mats Persson, 2003. "The Gains from Pension Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 74-112, March.
    15. Disney, Richard, 2000. "Declining public pensions in an era of demographic ageing: Will private provision fill the gap?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 957-973, May.
    16. Robert K. Triest, 1997. "Social Security reform: an overview," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue jun, pages 1-18.
    17. Mr. Richard Disney, 2000. "The Impact of Tax and Welfare Policieson Employment and Unemployment in OECD Countries," IMF Working Papers 2000/164, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Tullio Jappelli & Marco Pagano, 1994. "Saving, Growth, and Liquidity Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 83-109.
    19. Martin Feldstein, 1980. "International Differences in Social Security and Saving," NBER Chapters, in: Econometric Studies in Public Finance, pages 225-244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Norman Loayza & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Luis Servén, 2000. "What Drives Private Saving Across the World?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 165-181, May.
    21. Richard Disney, 2004. "Are contributions to public pension programmes a tax on employment? [‘Welfare state and competitiveness’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 19(39), pages 268-311.
    22. Tito Boeri & Axel Börsch-Supan & Guido Tabellini, 2001. "Would you like to shrink the welfare state? A survey of European citizens," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 16(32), pages 08-50.
    23. Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1979. "Testing the Theory of Social Security and Life Cycle Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 396-410, June.
    24. Jeff Dominitz & Charles F. Manski & Jordan Heinz, 2003. ""Will Social Security Be There For You?": How Americans Perceive Their Benefits," NBER Working Papers 9798, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Hubbard, R Glenn, 1986. "Pension Wealth and Individual Saving: Some New Evidence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 167-178, May.
    26. Koskela, Erkki & Viren, Matti, 1983. "Social Security and Household Saving in an International Cross Section," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 212-217, March.
    27. Orazio P. Attanasio & Agar Brugiavini, 2003. "Social Security and Households' Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1075-1119.
    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. Kai Konrad & Stergios Skaperdas, 2012. "The market for protection and the origin of the state," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(2), pages 417-443, June.
    2. Richard Disney, 2006. "Macroeconomic Performance and the Design of Public Pension Programmes," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 175-195.
    3. Creedy, John & Gemmell, Norman & Scobie, Grant, 2015. "Pensions, savings and housing: A life-cycle framework with policy simulations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 346-357.
    4. Alfredo Pereira & Jorge Andraz, 2012. "Social security and economic performance in Portugal: after all that has been said and done how much has actually changed?," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 11(2), pages 83-100, August.
    5. Creedy, John & Gemmell, Norman & Scobie, Grant, 2015. "Pensions, savings and housing: A life-cycle framework with policy simulations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 346-357.

    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. Sita Slavov & Devon Gorry & Aspen Gorry & Frank N. Caliendo, 2019. "Social Security and Saving: An Update," Public Finance Review, , vol. 47(2), pages 312-348, March.
    2. Ashok Thomas & Luca Spataro, 2013. "Pension funds and Market Efficiency: A review," Discussion Papers 2013/164, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2002. "Social security," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 32, pages 2245-2324, Elsevier.
    4. Erin Cottle Hunt & Frank N. Caliendo, 2022. "Social security and risk sharing: A survey of four decades of economic analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1591-1609, December.
    5. Seng-Eun Choi, 2010. "Social Security and Household Saving in Korea: Evidence from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 26, pages 97-119.
    6. Kivilcim Metin Ozcan & Asli Gunay & Seda Ertac, 2003. "Determinants of private savings behaviour in Turkey," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(12), pages 1405-1416.
    7. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2004. "Mind the gap : the effectiveness of incentives to boost retirement saving in Europe," Papers 07-27, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    8. Richard Disney, 2006. "Macroeconomic Performance and the Design of Public Pension Programmes," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 175-195.
    9. Dimitris Hatzinikolaou & Agathi Tsoka, 2016. "Modeling and Estimating the Effects of Institutional Variables on a Pay-as-you-go Social Security System and on Household Saving," Public Finance Review, , vol. 44(5), pages 589-609, September.
    10. Pinotti Paolo, 2009. "Financial Development and Pay-As-You-Go Social Security," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, March.
    11. Klaus Kaier & Christoph Müller, 2015. "New figures on unfunded public pension entitlements across Europe: concept, results and applications," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 865-895, November.
    12. Kapteyn, Arie & Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2005. "Explaining the wealth holdings of different cohorts: Productivity growth and Social Security," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1361-1391, July.
    13. Grant M Scobie & John K Gibson, 2003. "Household Saving Behaviour in New Zealand: Why do Cohorts Behave Differently?," Treasury Working Paper Series 03/32, New Zealand Treasury.
    14. Charles Yuji Horioka, 2014. "The Life and Work of Martin Stuart ("Marty") Feldstein," ISER Discussion Paper 0905, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    15. Marta Lachowska & Michał Myck, 2018. "The Effect of Public Pension Wealth on Saving and Expenditure," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 284-308, August.
    16. Lopez Murphy, Pablo & Musalem, Alberto R., 2004. "Pension funds and national saving," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3410, The World Bank.
    17. Mark A. Roberts, 2003. "Can Pay‐as‐You‐Go Pensions Raise the Capital Stock?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 71(s1), pages 1-20, September.
    18. Tzu-Ting Yang, 2016. "The Effect of Workplace Pensions on Household Saving: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 16-A013, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
    19. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    20. Marcin Wron ski, 2023. "Does Social Security Crowd out Private Wealth? A Survey of the Literature," Journal of Economic Analysis, Anser Press, vol. 2(4), pages 98-122, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social security reform; household saving;

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ceswps:_1541. 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.