Public Insurance against Idiosyncratic and Aggregate Risk: The Case of Social Security and Progressive Income Taxation

In this article, I discuss the role a progressive income tax system and a redistributive pay as you go (PAYGO) social security system can play in insuring and reallocating idiosyncratic as well as aggregate risk. I also argue that the underlying source of market failures generating such a role for government intervention may be crucial when determining the normative consequences of such social insurance. (JEL Classifications: E62, H21, H24, H55). Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.