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on Economics of Ageing |
| By: | Edward Whitehouse; Asghar Zaidi |
| Abstract: | The analyses included in the report show that there are big socio-economic differences in mortality, especially for men, and they appear to have become bigger over time. The report discusses implications of mortality differentials for five major areas of pension policy: the progressivity of the pension system, the pension eligibility age, the retirement incentives, future pension expenditures and private pensions. The empirical work shows that the mortality differentials reduce progressivity in pension systems. Moreover, there is empirical evidence that raising retirement age is not more unfair to socio-economic groups with lower life expectancy. <BR>Les analyses présentées ici montrent qu’il existe de fortes différences socioéconomiques en termes de mortalité, surtout chez les hommes, et qu’elles se sont apparemment accentuées au fil du temps. Ce document examine les conséquences des écarts de mortalité pour cinq grands aspects de la politique de retraite : la progressivité du système de retraite, l’âge d’ouverture des droits à pension, les incitations à la retraite, les dépenses de retraite futures et les pensions privées. Les travaux empiriques font apparaître que les écarts de mortalité réduisent la progressivité des régimes de retraite. De plus, des données d’observation montrent que le relèvement de l’âge de la retraite n’est pas plus pénalisant pour les catégories socioéconomiques ayant une espérance de vie plus courte. |
| JEL: | H55 I1 J14 |
| Date: | 2008–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:71-en&r=age |
| By: | Jeffrey B. Liebman; Erzo F.P. Luttmer; David G. Seif |
| Abstract: | A key question for Social Security reform is whether workers currently perceive the link on the margin between the Social Security taxes they pay and the Social Security benefits they will receive. We estimate the effects of the marginal Social Security benefits that accrue with additional earnings on three measures of labor supply: retirement, hours, and labor earnings. We develop a new approach to identifying these incentive effects by exploiting five provisions in the Social Security benefit rules that generate discontinuities in marginal benefits or non-linearities in marginal benefits that converge to discontinuities as uncertainty about the future is resolved. We find clear evidence that individuals approaching retirement (age 52 and older) respond to the Social Security tax-benefit link on the extensive margin of their labor supply decisions: we estimate that a 10 percent increase in the net-of-tax share reduces the two-year retirement hazard by a statistically significant 2.1 percentage points from a base rate of 15 percent. The evidence with regards to labor supply responses on the intensive margin is more mixed: we estimate that the elasticity of hours with respect to the net-of-tax share is 0.41 and statistically significant, but we do not find a statistically significant earnings elasticity. |
| JEL: | H55 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14540&r=age |
| By: | Michael Hurd; Pierre-Carl Michaud; Susann Rohwedder |
| Abstract: | In this paper the authors examine the scope of cross-country variation in institutions related to social insurance. Building on the variation they find they assess the value of new micro data that is comparable across countries to help identify key parameters of individual behavior. They present multiple aspects of labor force participation, including disability benefit receipt, as well as wealth accumulation and relate the resulting patterns to variation in institutions across countries. Finally, they study the relationship between wealth accumulation and the generosity of public pensions in more detail. The estimates imply that Social Security benefits displace private saving. |
| Keywords: | aging, social insurance, international comparisons |
| JEL: | D10 D31 D91 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:626&r=age |
| By: | Randall Jones |
| Abstract: | The proportion of non-regular workers has risen to one-third of total employment. While non-regular employment provides flexibility and cost reductions for firms, it also creates equity and efficiency concerns. A comprehensive approach that includes relaxing the high degree of employment protection for regular workers and expanding the coverage of non-regular workers by the social security system would help to reverse dualism. Given that non-regular workers receive less firm-based training, it is also necessary to expand training outside of firms to support Japan’s growth potential, while enhancing the employment prospects of non-regular workers. Reversing the upward trend in non-regular employment may also encourage greater female labour force participation, which is essential given rapid population ageing that is already reducing Japan’s working-age population by almost 1% each year. Expanding childcare facilities and paying more attention to work-life balance would also boost female employment, while also raising Japan’s exceptionally low birth rate. <P>Réformer le marché du travail au Japon pour faire face à un dualisme grandissant et au vieillissement démographique <BR>Les travailleurs non réguliers représentent désormais un tiers de l'ensemble des salariés. Or, s'il réduit les coûts de la flexibilité pour les entreprises, l'emploi non régulier suscite aussi des préoccupations sur le plan de l'efficience et de l'équité. Une approche globale, avec un assouplissement de la forte protection de l'emploi dont bénéficient les travailleurs réguliers et une extension de la couverture sociale des travailleurs non réguliers, aiderait à mettre fin au dualisme du marché du travail. Les travailleurs non réguliers ayant un accès plus limité que les autres à la formation en entreprise, il faudrait aussi développer la formation hors poste pour améliorer leurs perspectives d'emploi et renforcer ainsi le potentiel de croissance du Japon. Inverser la tendance à la hausse de l'emploi non régulier pourrait encourager une plus une plus forte participation des femmes à la vie active, ce qui est essentiel dans un pays où le vieillissement démographique a déjà pour effet de réduire la population d'âge actif de près de 1 % chaque année. De même, le développement des services de garde d'enfants et un plus grand souci de l'équilibre entre travail et vie familiale contribueraient à stimuler l'activité féminine, tout en relevant le taux de natalité exceptionnellement bas du Japon. |
| Keywords: | Japan, Japon, marché du travail, old workers, travailleurs âgés, dualism, dualisme, employment protection, protection de l'emploi, travailleurs non réguliers, labour force participation rates, taux d'activité, female employment, vocational training, formation professionnelle, fertility, Labour market adjustments |
| JEL: | J11 J3 J5 J7 |
| Date: | 2008–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:652-en&r=age |