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The Farm, the City, and the Emergence of Social Security

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  • Thomas F. Cooley
  • Elizabeth M. Caucutt
  • Nezih Guner

Abstract

We study the social, demographic and economic origins of social security. The data for the U.S. and for a cross section of countries suggest that urbanization and industrialization are associated with the rise of social insurance. We describe an OLG model in which demographics, technology, and social security are linked together in a political economy equilibrium. In the model economy, there are two locations (sectors), the farm (agricultural) and the city (industrial) and the decision to migrate from rural to urban locations is endogenous and linked to productivity differences between the two locations and survival probabilities. Farmers rely on land inheritance for their old age and do not support a pay-as-you-go social security system. With structural change, people migrate to the city, the land loses its importance and support for social security arises. We show that a calibrated version of this economy, where social security taxes are determined by majority voting, is consistent with the historical transformation in the United States. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
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  • Thomas F. Cooley & Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Nezih Guner, 2006. "The Farm, the City, and the Emergence of Social Security," Working Papers 06-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ste:nystbu:06-21
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    1. Doepke, M. & Tertilt, M., 2016. "Families in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1789-1891, Elsevier.
    2. Vincenzo Galasso & Paola Profeta, 2013. "From Family Culture to Welfare State Design," CHILD Working Papers Series 14, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    3. Rizzo, Giuseppe, 2009. "Fertility and pension systems," MPRA Paper 12998, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Balestrino, Alessandro & Ciardi, Cinzia & Mammini, Claudio, 2013. "On the causes and consequences of divorce," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Varvarigos, Dimitrios, 2021. "Upstream intergenerational transfers in economic development: The role of family ties and their cultural transmission," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    6. Achim Kemmerling & Michael Neugart, 2019. "Redistributive pensions in the developing world," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 702-726, May.
    7. Aaron George Grech, 2013. "How best to measure pension adequacy," CASE Papers case172, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    8. Vincenzo Galasso & Paola Profeta, 2018. "When the State Mirrors the Family: The Design of Pension Systems," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(6), pages 1712-1763.
    9. Perotti, Enrico & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2009. "The political origin of pension funding," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 384-404, July.
    10. Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker, 2017. "On the spread of social protection systems," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(4), pages 550-574, August.
    11. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2019. "The Wife's Protector: A Quantitative Theory Linking Contraceptive Technology with the Decline in Marriage," Working Papers wp2019_1912, CEMFI.
    12. Luca Pensieroso & Alessandro Sommacal, 2019. "Agriculture to Industry: the End of Intergenerational Coresidence," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 34, pages 87-102, October.
    13. Aaron George, Grech, 2014. "Pension policy design: The core issues," MPRA Paper 53662, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Lopez-Velasco, Armando R., 2016. "Solving dynamic inefficiency with politically sustainable guest worker programs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-4.
    15. Jialu Liu, 2011. "Human capital, migration and rural entrepreneurship in China," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(2), pages 100-122, September.
    16. Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker, 2017. "On the spread of social protection systems," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(4), pages 550-574, August.
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    18. Lopez-Velasco, Armando R., 2024. "Markov equilibrium of social security: An analytic solution under CRRA utility and the future of social security," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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