La logique rétributive de la durée d’assurance requise et des critères de validation de trimestres

Instead of being contributory (earnings based) or redistributive, the French pension system still displays powerful reward elements: pension is not strictly based on contributions, but also on other factors that aim to compensate or reward different behaviours. This reward logic is well known in the calculation of the reference wage (as it is an average of some of the best past wages), but this paper aims to show that it is also present in the computation of the insurance period, as many periods are validated for free. As a result, the French pension system redistributes from pensioners with incomplete careers to pensioners with complete careers, from outsiders to insiders. As the tax code can be undermined by special tax breaks, the pension system and the insurance period loopholes must be studied from the point of view of political economy and vested interests, if one wishes to make them more contributory. JEL codes : H5, D7