IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp16735.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social Security and Inequality in Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Klinges, Giulia

    (University of Liège)

  • Jousten, Alain

    (University of Liège)

  • Lefèbvre, Mathieu

    (Aix Marseille School of Economics)

Abstract

Over the years, the Belgian social security system has undergone substantial reform with a prime focus on increasing older worker labor force participation. The paper explores the effect of past reforms on inequality in old age. We distinguish two separate effects: The mechanical effect considers the change in inequality and expected benefit levels due to the reforms for a fixed retirement age distribution. The behavioral effect accounts for the endogenous change caused by changes in the incentives to work. Our results show that mechanically, reforms have led to losses in expected benefits for all but the lowest income quintile. Behavioral changes had a positive but orders of magnitude smaller effect. Overall, inequality decreased as a result of reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Klinges, Giulia & Jousten, Alain & Lefèbvre, Mathieu, 2024. "Social Security and Inequality in Belgium," IZA Discussion Papers 16735, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16735
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp16735.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Octave De Brouwer, 2023. "The Growth of Disability Insurance in Belgium: Economic determinants and Policy Implications," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/359863, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. De Brouwer, Octave & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "The Growth of Disability Insurance in Belgium: Determinants and Policy Implications," IZA Discussion Papers 16376, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2013. "Retirement Incentives in Belgium: Estimations and Simulations Using SHARE Data," De Economist, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 253-276, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2017. "Work Capacity and Longer Working Lives in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Capacity to Work at Older Ages, pages 35-58, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Mathieu Lefebvre & Sergio Perelman, 2016. "Social security wealth and household asset holdings: new evidence from Belgium," Working Papers of BETA 2016-38, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    3. Anne-Lore Fraikin & Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2018. "Social Security Incentives in Belgium: An Analysis of Four Decades of Change," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Reforms and Retirement Incentives, pages 43-78, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Anne-Lore Fraikin & Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2023. "Trends in Social Security Incentives in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Effects of Reforms on Retirement Behavior, pages 33-65, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Alain Jousten & Mathieu Lefebvre, 2018. "Older Men’s Labor Force Participation in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 33-50, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Agar Brugiavini & Petru Crudu, 2023. "The Role of Disability Insurance on the Labour Market Trajectories of Europeans," Working Papers 2023:20, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social security and public pensions; old-age labor supply; retirement; pension reforms; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

    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:iza:izadps:dp16735. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.