Back to Bismarck? Shifting Preferences for Intragenerational Redistribution in OECD Pension Systems

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract Using a sample of 20 OECD countries it is shown that the majority of countries decreased the level of intragenerational redistribution in the first pillar of their pension systems, though the evidence is weak in statistical terms. We find strong correlations between changes of the so-called Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayBismarckian factor and changes of the generosity of the pension system, the shape of the income distribution in terms of its first three central moments and life expectancy. An economic laboratory experiment confirms that these variables could have been causal for the observed change.JEL classification: H55, D71, J18, D63, C92

Fairness of Public Pensions and Old-Age Poverty

“…Based on the traditional view of comparing annual incomes and annual retirement benefits, Krieger and Traub (2008) found in a recent paper a (weak) trend towards a lower degree of redistribution in public pension systems within the OECD, whereas the reform proposed here would amount to an opposite move. Nevertheless it appears likely that the proposed reform might find a majority in the political arena.…”

When the State Mirrors the Family: The Design of Pension Systems

“…For instance, the United Kingdom is still an example of a flat-rate pension system, while Germany, Italy and France have remained earnings-related. For a sample of 20 OECD countries, Krieger and Traub (2008) find no significant evidence of a change in the intragenerational redistribution in PAYG systems. Some examples suggest that each scheme may actually have accentuated its original design: Bismarckian systems have become more Bismarckian and analogously for Beveridgean schemes.…”

How Progressive is the Czech Pension Security?

“…Limitation of our research is that results were acquired with the pseudo-panel data for the fi ctional individuals though modelled using the cross-sectional data on real employees gathered by a special statistical survey monitoring various variables 29 For details about the infl uence of the positive effect of income on life expectancy on the redistribution see (Krieger and Traub, 2008).…”

“…7 It seems that a shift to the Bismarckian system is a tendency in OECD countries. Using microdata from LIS (period from 1985 to 2000) Krieger and Traub (2008) provided some empirical evidence, but weak, for the increase of the Bismarckian factor and thus the reduction in intragenerational redistribution in the PAYGO pension systems in many OECD countries (the Czech Republic was not included in the dataset).…”

“…8 Using empirical analysis and laboratory experiment Krieger and Traub (2008) revealed factors that increased the Bismarckian factor (or decreased intragenerational redistribution) as follows: an increase in the generosity of the pension system, a variance of the income distribution, and an asymmetric increase of the life expectancy in favour of the rich.…”