IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ptu/wpaper/w202101.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal Social Insurance: Insights from a Continuous-Time Stochastic Setup

Author

Listed:
  • João Amador
  • Pedro G. Rodrigues

Abstract

This paper focuses on the determinants of the optimal level of social insurance, thus contributing to explain its cross-country variation. In a continuous-time stochastic endogenous growth setup, it is a form of public insurance against idiosyncratic shocks affecting the income, as well as the dependency ratio of an individual household. Such shocks include, for example, illness, disability, unemployment, or changes in the number of infants and elderly in care. We conclude that a higher average dependency ratio and a higher covariance between technological and dependency shocks both decrease the optimal amount of social insurance. In addition, a higher variance of technological shocks does not affect optimal decisions, while a higher variance of dependency shocks increases optimal social insurance, provided the covariance between technological and dependency shocks is not very negative.

Suggested Citation

  • João Amador & Pedro G. Rodrigues, 2021. "Optimal Social Insurance: Insights from a Continuous-Time Stochastic Setup," Working Papers w202101, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:ptu:wpaper:w202101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bportugal.pt/sites/default/files/anexos/papers/wp202101.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wasseem Mina, 2018. "The Determinants of Social Protection Expenditures and Labor Market Flexibility," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1810, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    2. Peter A. Diamond & James Mirrlees, 1985. "Insurance Aspects of Pensions," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice, pages 317-356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Robert C. Merton & Zvi Bodie & Alan Marcus, 1987. "Pension Plan Integration As Insurance Against Social Security Risk," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 147-172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Gary S. Fields & Olivia S. Mitchell, 1984. "Retirement, Pensions, and Social Security," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262060914, December.
    5. Di Gioacchino, Debora & Sabani, Laura & Tedeschi, Simone, 2014. "Preferences for social protection: Theory and empirics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 629-644.
    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. Gustman, A.L. & Mitchell, O.S. & Steinmeier, T.L., 1993. "The Role of Pensions in the Labor Market," Papers 93-07, Cornell - Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies.
    2. Olivia S. Mitchell, "undated". "Developments in Pensions," Pension Research Council Working Papers 98-4, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. Zvi Bodie & Alan J. Marcus & Robert C. Merton, 1988. "Defined Benefit versus Defined Contribution Pension Plans: What are the Real Trade-offs?," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions in the U.S. Economy, pages 139-162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bodie, Zvi, 1990. "Pensions as Retirement Income Insurance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 28-49, March.
    5. Gustman, Alan L & Steinmeier, Thomas L, 2000. "Retirement in Dual-Career Families: A Structural Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 503-545, July.
    6. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 1994. "Retirement in a Family Context: A Structural Model for Husbands and Wives," NBER Working Papers 4629, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1987. "Uncertain Lifetimes, Pensions, and Individual Saving," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 175-210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Robalino, David A. & Zylberstajn, Eduardo & Zylberstajn, Helio & Afonso, Luis Eduardo, 2008. "An ex-ante evaluation of the impact of social insurance policies on labor supply in Brazil : the case for explicit over implicit redistribution," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 90342, The World Bank.
    9. Geoffrey H. Kingston, 2000. "Efficient Timing of Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 831-840, October.
    10. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1984. "'Precautionary' Saving Revisited: Social Security, Individual Welfare, and the Capital Stock," NBER Working Papers 1430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Peter Diamond & Jonathan Gruber, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security and Retirement around the World, pages 437-473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Geoffrey H. Kingston, 2000. "Efficient Timing of Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 831-840, October.
    13. Olivia S. Mitchell, 1991. "Trends in Pension Benefit Formulas and Retirement Provisions," NBER Working Papers 3744, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 2004. "Social security, pensions and retirement behaviour within the family," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 723-737.
    15. Johnson, Richard W, 1996. "The Impact of Human Capital Investments on Pension Benefits," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 520-554, July.
    16. Gustman, Alan L. & Steinmeier, Thomas L., 2005. "Retirement Effects of Proposals by the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 58(1), pages 27-49, March.
    17. Michael D. Hurd, 1993. "The Effect of Labor Market Rigidities on the Labor Force Behavior of Older Workers," NBER Working Papers 4462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bender, Keith A., 2009. "How are pension integration and pension benefits related?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 26-41, February.
    19. Robert C. Merton & Zvi Bodie & Alan Marcus, 1987. "Pension Plan Integration As Insurance Against Social Security Risk," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in Pension Economics, pages 147-172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Lumsdaine, Robin L. & Stock, James H. & Wise, David A., 1990. "Efficient windows and labor force reduction," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 131-159, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

    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:ptu:wpaper:w202101. 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: DEE-NTD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdpgvpt.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.