We build a model of retirement and assess what are the main forces that drove the macroeconomic pattern in retirement in the US economy during the 20th century. We in particular consider the role of technological progress, demographic change and the Social Security system.

The paper studies the effect of unstable policies on productivity

We use an extended Barro-Becker model of endogenous fertility, in which parents are heterogeneous in their labor productivity, to study the efficient degree of consumption inequality in the long run. In our environment a utilitarian planner allows for consumption inequality even when labor...