Public Pensions and Economic Growth

This book contains material that I have presented in seminars at the Universities of Bochum, Mannheim, Munich, Salerno, and Southern California at Los Angeles, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, the Max-Planck-Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, and on various international meetings and conferences. In preparing and revising the material I have benefited from comments, discussions, and advice from several colleagues. I had particularly close and friendly collaboration with Alexander Kemnitz and Robert von Weizsicker to whom I am very grateful. I am also grateful to Michele Boldrin, Axel Borsch-Supan, Friedrich Breyer, Karen Feist, Tullio Jappelli, Leo Kaas, Marco Pagano, Gerhard Schwooiauer, Carl Christian von Weizsacker, and Wolfgang Wiegard for their comments and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support. Mannheim, January 2002 Berthold U. Wigger Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Public Pensions and Economic Growth: The Basic Framework . . 5 2. 1. The Analytical Elements 7 2. 1. 1. The Individuals 7 2. 1. 2. The Firms 10 2. 1. 3. The Public Pension Program 11 2. 1. 4. The Competitive Equilibrium 12 2. 2. Productivity Growth 13 2. 3. Allocative Efficiency 19 2. 4. Public Pension Reform 25 Appendix 2 . . . . . . 30 3. The Allocative Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Endogenous Growth Economies 33 3. 1. Investment Externalities, Intergenerational Transfers, and Pareto-improvements . . . . . . . 35 Contents x 3. 1. 1. A Subsidy to Private Savings 35 3. 1. 2. A Pareto-Improving Policy 38 3. 2.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

This book studies the normative and positive ramifications of public pension policies in a growing economy. It analyzes the impact of an unfunded public pension scheme on aggregate productivity growth and efficiency, it considers the political forces behind public pension legislation, and it develops and discusses elements of public pension design and reform. The book emphasizes the endogenous growth paradigm for an understanding of the dynamic impact of intergenerational transfers inherent in an unfunded public pension scheme. It uncovers an allocative role of intergenerational transfers which is exclusively linked to the possibility of endogenously evolving economic growth. The endogenous growth approach also allows to identify unfunded public pensions as a source of a conflict between current and future generations. This conflict shapes private old-age security considerations as well as the process of public pension legislation.

Zusammenfassung

From the reviews:

"This book ... consists of a collection of papers that deal with the effect the assumption of endogenous growth has on the functioning of public-pension plans. ... This book is well written and I enjoyed reading it. To those who want to have a quick refresher course in the effects of public-pension schemes in growth models, this book is highly recommended. ... I recommend this book as a compact survey and as a possible source of inspiration for those wish to begin research ... ." (H. A. A. Verbon, Journal of Economics, Vol. 80 (2), 2003)

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Public Pensions and Economic Growth: The Basic Framework.- 2.1. The Analytical Elements.- 2.2. Productivity Growth.- 2.3. Allocative Efficiency.- 2.4. Public Pension Reform.- Appendix 2.- 3. The Allocative Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Endogenous Growth Economies.- 3.1. Investment Externalities, Intergenerational Transfers, and Pareto-improvements.- 3.2. The Length of the Working Life.- 3.3. Endogenous Innovation.- 3.4. Human Capital Formation.- Appendix 3.- 4. Public versus Private Intergenerational Transfers.- 4.1. Dynastic Altruism.- 4.2. Gifts, Bequests, and Growth.- 4.3. When Are Private Intergenerational Transfers Operative?.- 4.4. Old-Age Security and Neutrality.- 4.5. Legislating Public Pensions (I).- Appendix 4.- 5. The Family as an Old-age Security Device.- 5.1. A Twofold Fertility Motive.- 5.2. The Interplay between Productivity Growth and Fertility.- 5.3. Legislating Public Pensions (II).- Appendix 5.- 6. Summary.- List of Symbols.- References.- Author Index.