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Gender inequalities in pensions: different components similar levels of dispersion

Author

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  • Carole Bonnet

    (Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED))

  • Dominique Meurs

    (Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED)
    University Paris Ouest Nanterre, Economix)

  • Benoît Rapoport

    (Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED)
    University Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne, Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne UMR CNRS, Maison des Sciences Economiques)

Abstract

While the average gender gap in pensions is quite well documented, gender differences in the distribution of pensions have rarely been explored. We show in this paper that pension dispersion is very similar for men and women within the French pension system of a given sector (public or private). Gender differences are less marked among retired civil servants than among former private sector employees. However, the determinants of these inequalities are not the same for men and women. Using a regression-based decomposition of the Gini coefficient, we find that pension dispersion is mostly due to dispersion of the reference wage for all retirees but gender differences exist. For women, in particular, pension dispersion is also due to the dispersion in contribution periods. We also decompose the Gini coefficient by source of pension to measure the impact of institutional rules (minimum pensions, survivor’s pension) on the extent of pension inequality. Unexpectedly, we find that the impact of minimum pensions is limited, although slightly larger for civil servants than for private-sector employees. Survivor’s pension schemes, on the other hand, contribute positively to pension dispersion among retired women.

Suggested Citation

  • Carole Bonnet & Dominique Meurs & Benoît Rapoport, 2018. "Gender inequalities in pensions: different components similar levels of dispersion," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(4), pages 527-552, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:16:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10888-018-9379-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-018-9379-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Carole Bonnet & Benoît Rapoport, 2020. "Is There a Child Penalty in Pensions? The Role of Caregiver Credits in the French Retirement System," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 27-52, March.
    2. Michael A. Nelson & Rajeev K. Goel, 2023. "Spillovers from gender equality onto economic equality: Evidence from 162 nations," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1365-1388, August.
    3. Anat Herbst-Debby, 2023. "What’s Your Pension Story? Women’s Perspectives during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Their Old-Age Pension Status, Past and Present," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-20, May.
    4. M. Costa, 2019. "The evaluation of gender income inequality by means of the Gini index decomposition," Working Papers wp1130, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    5. Léa Cimelli & Carole Bonnet & Anne Solaz, 2024. "Do late-life divorces produce greater gender inequalities? Evidence from administrative data," Working Papers 292, French Institute for Demographic Studies.

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