Pareto Improving Social Security Reform When Financial Markets are Incomplete

34 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2005

See all articles by Dirk Krueger

Dirk Krueger

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Felix Kubler

University of Zurich; Swiss Finance Institute

Date Written: May 2005

Abstract

This paper studies an overlapping generations model with stochastic production and incomplete markets to assess whether the introduction of an unfunded social security system leads to a Pareto improvement. When returns to capital and wages are imperfectly correlated, a system that endows retired households with claims to labor income enhances the sharing of aggregate risk between generations. Our quantitative analysis shows that, abstracting from the capital crowding-out effect, the introduction of social security represents a Pareto improving reform, even when the economy is dynamically efficient. However, the severity of the crowding-out effect in general equilibrium tends to overturn these gains.

Keywords: Social security reform, aggregate fluctuations, intergenerational risk sharing, incomplete markets

JEL Classification: D58, D91, E62, H31, H55

Suggested Citation

Krueger, Dirk and Kubler, Felix E., Pareto Improving Social Security Reform When Financial Markets are Incomplete (May 2005). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5039, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=774185

Dirk Krueger (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science
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Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
United States
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215-573-2057 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.upenn.edu/~dkrueger/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Felix E. Kubler

University of Zurich ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

Swiss Finance Institute

c/o University of Geneva
40, Bd du Pont-d'Arve
CH-1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland

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