IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulb/ulbeco/2013-229573.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the optimality of public pensions in an economy with life-cyclers and myopes

Author

Listed:
  • Frédéric Docquier

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a two-period overlapping generations model with two types of individuals, life-cyclers and myopes. We revisit Feldstein's problem by deriving the optimal level of social security using a social welfare function à la Samuelson (rather than à la Lerner). In opposition to the Lerner solution, our optimal pension benefit exhibits several interesting properties (dynamic efficiency, egalitarism, easy implementation). Then the opportunity to move to a partially funded system is examined. It turns out that a partially funded system ensures the equality of utility within and across generations. The effective use of funding opportunities is less a question of rate of return than a question of equal treatment of individuals. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Suggested Citation

  • Frédéric Docquier, 2002. "On the optimality of public pensions in an economy with life-cyclers and myopes," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/229573, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/229573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belan, Pascal & Pestieau, Pierre, 1999. "Privatisation des systèmes de retraite : une évaluation critique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 9-27, mars-juin.
    2. Pascal Belan & Philippe Michel & Pierre Pestieau, 1998. "Pareto-Improving Social Security Reform," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 23(2), pages 119-125, December.
    3. Brunner, Johann K., 1996. "Transition from a pay-as-you-go to a fully funded pension system: The case of differing individuals and intragenerational fairness," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 131-146, April.
    4. Feldstein, Martin S, 1987. "Should Social Security Benefits Be Means Tested?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 468-484, June.
    5. Homburg, Stefan, 1990. "The Efficiency of Unfunded Pension Schemes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 146, pages 640-647.
    6. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(6), pages 467-467.
    7. Sheng-Cheng Hu, 1996. "Myopia and Social Security Financing," Public Finance Review, , vol. 24(3), pages 319-348, July.
    8. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1998. "Simulating the Privatization of Social Security in General Equilibrium," NBER Chapters, in: Privatizing Social Security, pages 265-311, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Martin Feldstein, 1985. "The Optimal Level of Social Security Benefits," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(2), pages 303-320.
    10. Breyer, Friedrich & Straub, Martin, 1993. "Welfare effects of unfunded pension systems when labor supply is endogenous," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 77-91, January.
    11. Peters, Wolfgang, 1991. "Public Pensions in Transition: An Optimal Policy Path," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 4(2), pages 155-175, May.
    12. BELAN, Pascal & MICHEL, Philippe & PESTIEAU, Pierre, 1996. "Pareto improving social security reform with endogenous growth," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1996057, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    13. Diamond, P. A., 1977. "A framework for social security analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 275-298, December.
    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. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 2011. "Myopia, redistribution and pensions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 165-175, February.
    2. Mohamed Bouzahzah & Frédéric Docquier & Oliver Paddison, 2002. "Retraites, croissance et inégalités en présence d'individus myopes," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 155(4), pages 31-44.
    3. Kerstin Roeder, 2009. "Optimal taxes and pensions in a society with myopic agents," Working Papers 2009/28, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    4. Caliendo, Frank N., 2011. "Time-inconsistent preferences and social security: Revisited in continuous time," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 668-675, May.
    5. Kerstin Roeder, 2009. "Optimal taxes and pensions in a society with myopic agents," Working Papers 2009/28, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    6. Joanna Tyrowicz & Krzysztof Makarski & Marcin Bielecki, 2016. "Reforming retirement age in DB and DC pension systems in an aging OLG economy with heterogenous agents," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, December.
    7. Frank Caliendo & Emin Gahramanov, 2013. "Myopia and pensions in general equilibrium," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 37(3), pages 375-401, July.
    8. Geri, Milva, 2022. "Pension arrangements and economic thinking: unreal assumptions and false predictions in the case of Argentina," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    9. Chu-chuan Cheng & Hsun Chu, 2018. "Optimal policies for sin goods and health care: Tax or subsidy?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 412-429, April.
    10. Gahramanov Emin, 2016. "On the Demographics and the Severity of the Social Security Crisis," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1001-1028, April.
    11. Guo, Nick L. & Caliendo, Frank N., 2014. "Time-inconsistent preferences and time-inconsistent policies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 102-108.
    12. Erin Cottle Hunt & Frank N. Caliendo, 2022. "Social security and risk sharing: A survey of four decades of economic analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1591-1609, December.
    13. Andras Simonovits, 2009. "Underreported earnings and age-specific income redistribution in post-socialist economies," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0927, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    14. Frank N. Caliendo & Emin Gahramanov, 2009. "Hunting the Unobservables for Optimal Social Security," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(4), pages 470-502, July.
    15. T. Findley & Frank Caliendo, 2009. "Short horizons, time inconsistency, and optimal social security," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(4), pages 487-513, August.
    16. Frank N. Caliendo & T. Scott Findley, 2020. "Myopia, education, and social security," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 694-720, June.

    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. Pascal Belan, 2001. "Transition vers un système par capitalisation dans un modèle de croissance endogène," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 52(6), pages 1205-1226.
    2. Belan, Pascal & Pestieau, Pierre, 1999. "Privatisation des systèmes de retraite : une évaluation critique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 9-27, mars-juin.
    3. Assar Lindbeck & Mats Persson, 2003. "The Gains from Pension Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 74-112, March.
    4. Yvonne Adema & Lex Meijdam & Harrie Verbon, 2009. "The international spillover effects of pension reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(5), pages 670-696, October.
    5. Damjanovic, Tatiana, 2003. "The possibility of Pareto-Improving Pension Reform: More Arguments," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 53, Royal Economic Society.
    6. Mark A. Roberts, 2013. "Pareto-improving pension reform through technological implementation," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(3), pages 317-342, July.
    7. Friedrich Breyer, 2000. "Kapitaldeckungs‐ versus Umlageverfahren," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(4), pages 383-405, November.
    8. Hirte, Georg, 2001. "Pension Policies for an Aging Society," Beiträge zur Finanzwissenschaft, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, edition 1, volume 14, number urn:isbn:9783161475399, September.
    9. Marko Köthenbürger & Panu Poutvaara, 2002. "Social Security Reform and Intergenerational Trade: Is there Scope for a Pareto-Improvement?," CESifo Working Paper Series 795, CESifo.
    10. Andersen, Torben M. & Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Gestsson, Marias H., 2021. "Pareto-improving transition to fully funded pensions under myopia," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 169-212, June.
    11. Mohamed Bouzahzah & Frédéric Docquier & Oliver Paddison, 2002. "Retraites, croissance et inégalités en présence d'individus myopes," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 155(4), pages 31-44.
    12. Pascal Belan & Philippe Michel & Bertrand Wigniolle, 2007. "Capital Accumulation, Welfare, and the Emergence of Pension-Fund Activism," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 63(1), pages 54-82, March.
    13. Ulrich van Suntum, "undated". "A way out of pay-as-you-go without a double burden," Working Papers 200105, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    14. Weizsäcker, Robert K. von & Wigger, Berthold U., 2001. "Rentenfinanzierung und intergenerationelle Gerechtigkeit : Eine wachstumstheoretische Perspektive," Discussion Papers 606, Institut fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre und Statistik, Abteilung fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre.
    15. van Suntum, Ulrich, 2010. "A way out of pay-as-you-go without a double burden," CAWM Discussion Papers 27, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    16. Fehr, Hans, 1999. "Welfare Effects of Dynamic Tax Reforms," Beiträge zur Finanzwissenschaft, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, edition 1, volume 5, number urn:isbn:9783161470165, September.
    17. Georges Casamatta & L. Batté, 2016. "The Political Economy of Population Aging," Post-Print hal-02520521, HAL.
    18. Bernard M.S. van Praag & Pedro Cardoso, 2003. "The Mix Between Pay-as-you-go and Funded Pensions and What Demography Has to Do with it," CESifo Working Paper Series 865, CESifo.
    19. Casamatta, G. & Batté, L., 2016. "The Political Economy of Population Aging," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-444, Elsevier.
    20. Börsch-Supan, A. & Härtl, K. & Leite, D.N., 2016. "Social Security and Public Insurance," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 781-863, Elsevier.

    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:ulb:ulbeco:2013/229573. 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: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecsulbe.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.