Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.

How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we estimate a life-cycle model in which the optimal employment, retirement and consumption decisions of forward-looking individu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Prowse, V, Haan, P
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: Department of Economics (University of Oxford) 2011
_version_ 1826302956411027456
author Prowse, V
Haan, P
author_facet Prowse, V
Haan, P
author_sort Prowse, V
collection OXFORD
description How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we estimate a life-cycle model in which the optimal employment, retirement and consumption decisions of forward-looking individuals depend, inter alia, on life expectancy and the design of the public pension system. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, the fiscal consequences of the 6.4 year increase in age 65 life expectancy anticipated to occur over the 40 years that separate the 1942 and 1982 birth cohorts can be offset by either an increase of 4.43 years in the full pensionable age or a cut of 37.7% in the per-year value of public pension benefits. Of these two distinct policy approaches to coping with the fiscal consequences of improving longevity, increasing the full pensionable age generates the largest responses in labor supply and retirement behavior.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T05:55:19Z
format Working paper
id oxford-uuid:ea4d9368-d3b1-414e-8061-45a4e7ab9327
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T05:55:19Z
publishDate 2011
publisher Department of Economics (University of Oxford)
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:ea4d9368-d3b1-414e-8061-45a4e7ab93272022-03-27T11:01:03ZLongevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.Working paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:ea4d9368-d3b1-414e-8061-45a4e7ab9327EnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsDepartment of Economics (University of Oxford)2011Prowse, VHaan, PHow can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we estimate a life-cycle model in which the optimal employment, retirement and consumption decisions of forward-looking individuals depend, inter alia, on life expectancy and the design of the public pension system. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, the fiscal consequences of the 6.4 year increase in age 65 life expectancy anticipated to occur over the 40 years that separate the 1942 and 1982 birth cohorts can be offset by either an increase of 4.43 years in the full pensionable age or a cut of 37.7% in the per-year value of public pension benefits. Of these two distinct policy approaches to coping with the fiscal consequences of improving longevity, increasing the full pensionable age generates the largest responses in labor supply and retirement behavior.
spellingShingle Prowse, V
Haan, P
Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title_full Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title_fullStr Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title_full_unstemmed Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title_short Longevity, Life-cycle Behavior and Pension Reform.
title_sort longevity life cycle behavior and pension reform
work_keys_str_mv AT prowsev longevitylifecyclebehaviorandpensionreform
AT haanp longevitylifecyclebehaviorandpensionreform