IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/piedp1/226.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Reforming the German Public Pension System

Author

Listed:
  • Börsch-Supan, Axel H.
  • Wilke, Christina B.

Abstract

Chancellor Bismarck introduced public pensions in Germany more than 120 years ago. That system has expanded into one of the most generous pension systems in the world. Most workers receive virtually all of their retirement income from it. Costs are almost 12 percent of GDP, more than 2.5 times as much as the U.S. Social Security System. The pressures exerted by population aging, amplified by negative incentive effects, have induced a reform process that began in 1992 and reached its peak in the 2001 and 2004 reforms. The 2001 reform converted the exemplary monolithic Bismarckian public insurance system into a complex multipillar system. The 2004 reform converted the pay-as-you-go pillar into a quasi notional defined contribution (NDC) system. This paper delivers an assessment in how far these reform steps will solve the pressing pension problems in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Börsch-Supan, Axel H. & Wilke, Christina B., 2004. "Reforming the German Public Pension System," Discussion Paper 226, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:piedp1:226
    Note: Version: 30. August 2004, Paper Prepared for the 2004 General Assembly of the Japan Pension Research Council, 9-10 September 2004, Tokyo, Japan
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/14251/pie_dp226.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Axel Boersch-Supan & Christina B. Wilke, 2004. "The German Public Pension System: How it Was, How it Will Be," NBER Working Papers 10525, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Borsch-Supan, Axel & Schnabel, Reinhold, 1998. "Social Security and Declining Labor-Force Participation in Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 173-178, May.
    3. Axel H. Börsch-Supan & Christina B. Wilke, 2003. "The German Public Pension System: How it Was, How it Will Be," Working Papers wp041, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    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. Dickson, Matt & Postel-Vinay, Fabien & Turon, Hélène, 2014. "The lifetime earnings premium in the public sector: The view from Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 141-161.
    2. Hans-Martin von Gaudecker & Rembrandt D. Scholz, 2006. "Lifetime earnings and life expectancy," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    3. Malavasi, Chiara & Ye, Han, 2024. "Live Longer and Healthier: Impact of Pension Income for Low-Income Retirees," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302374, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Ye, Han, 2018. "The Effect of Pension Subsidies on Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Sibylle H. & Prettner, Klaus & Tscheuschner, Paul, 2020. "The scientific revolution and its role in the transition to sustained economic growth," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 06-2020, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    6. repec:iab:iabfme:201801(en is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Corlet Walker, Christine & Druckman, Angela & Jackson, Tim, 2021. "Welfare systems without economic growth: A review of the challenges and next steps for the field," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    8. Fürstenau, Elisabeth & Gohl, Niklas & Haan, Peter & Weinhardt, Felix, 2023. "Working life and human capital investment: Causal evidence from a pension reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. repec:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_514 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Todd, Kevin & Heining, Jörg, 2024. "The labor market impacts of employer consolidation: Evidence from Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    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. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2004. "From Traditional DB to Notional DC Systems: Reframing PAYG contributions to "notional savings"," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 04-64, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    2. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2004. "From Traditional DB to Notional DC Systems," MEA discussion paper series 04063, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    3. Akin Serife Nuray, 2012. "Immigration, Fiscal Policy, and Welfare in an Aging Population," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-45, July.
    4. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Reil-Held, Anette & Wilke, Christina Benita, 2007. "How an Unfunded Pension System looks like Defined Benefits but works like Defined Contributions: The German Pension Reform," MEA discussion paper series 07126, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    5. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2007. "Rational Pension Reform," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 07-25, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    6. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2007. "Rational Pension Reform," MEA discussion paper series 07132, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    7. Auerbach, Alan J. & Lee, Ronald, 2011. "Welfare and generational equity in sustainable unfunded pension systems," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 16-27.
    8. Barbara Engels & Johannes Geyer & Peter Haan, 2016. "Pension Incentives and Early Retirement," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1617, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Haan, Peter & Prowse, Victoria, 2014. "Longevity, life-cycle behavior and pension reform," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(P3), pages 582-601.
    10. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Reil-Held, Anette & Wilke, Christina, 2007. "How an Unfunded Pension System looks like Defined Benefits but works like Defined Contributions: The German Pension Reform," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 07-09, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    11. Dolls, Mathias & Krolage, Carla, 2023. "‘Earned, not given’? The effect of lowering the full retirement age on retirement decisions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    12. Kühntopf, Stephan & Tivig, Thusnelda, 2008. "Early retirement in Germany: Loss of income and lifetime?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 85, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    13. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2004. "From Traditional DB to Notional DC Systems : reframing PAYG contributions to "notional savings"," Papers 04-64, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    14. Peter Kesting, 2010. "Why it is possible that wages and pensions can increase simultaneously in an ageing and stagnating % A theoretical investigation and a simulation of the German case," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 727-738.
    15. Barbara Berkel & Axel Börsch-Supan, 2004. "Pension Reform in Germany: The Impact on Retirement Decisions," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 60(3), pages 393-421, September.
    16. Kühntopf, Stephan & Tivig, Thusnelda, 2007. "Renteneintrittsalter und Lebensdauer: Was kostet die Frühverrentung?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 67, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    17. Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2003. "What are NDC Pension Systems? What Do They Bring to Reform Strategies?," MEA discussion paper series 03042, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    18. Schnabel, Reinhold, 1997. "Rates of Return of the German Pay-As-You-Go Pension System," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 98-56, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    19. Borsch-Supan, Axel & Reil-Held, Anette & Rodepeter, Ralf & Schnabel, Reinhold & Winter, Joachim, 2001. "The German Savings Puzzle," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 15-38, March.
    20. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi & Puhani, Patrick A. & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2024. "Pension reforms and couples’ labour supply decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    More about this item

    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:hit:piedp1:226. 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: Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cihitjp.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.