In this paper I analyse a labour market where the wage is endogenously determined according to an Efficient Bargaining process between a firm and a labour union whose members are partitioned into two social groups: the old and the young. Furthermore, I exploit the Single-Mindedness theory, which...

The central purpose of this paper is to introduce a new political economy explanation to modern Social Security Systems. This approach is based on the Single-Mindedness Theory (SMT), which assumes that the more single-minded groups are able to exert a greater power of influence on Governments...

We show that the introduction of unfunded public pensions in a Cobb-Douglas economy with overlapping generations and endogenous fertility may cause complex economic cycles when individuals are short-sighted. In particular, the risk of cyclical instability increases with both the individual...

This paper investigates the steady state and dynamical effects of two historical alternatives as a means of old-age insurance – i.e., voluntary intra-family transfers from young to old members versus pay-as-you-go public pensions –, in a general equilibrium overlapping generations model with...

In this paper I will introduce a new political economy model, where there exists a competition amongst two political candidates, which aim to set a policy which enables them to win elections, max- imising the probability of winning. I will show that, if taxes neces- sary to repay the debt are...

In the last decades, the pension system in Argentina has experienced important changes that included the introduction of an individual account defined-contribution component (or individual capitalisation) in 1994 and its subsequent reversal to a defined benefit pay-as-you-go pension scheme in...

This article discusses the future of social protection in Latin America and the challenges the region faces in the three key performance areas: coverage, sufficiency and sustainability. In particular, the article analyses how coverage is strongly determined by the structure of employment; the...

Aging populations in developing countries have spurred the introduction of public pension programs to preserve the standard of living for the elderly. The often-overlooked mechanism of intergenerational transfers, however, can dampen these intended policy effects, as adult children who make...

This paper examines the economic consequences of losing eligibility for early retirement (ER) benefits due to involuntary job displacement. In Norway, job displacement before a certain age cutoff results in the loss of eligibility for ER benefits between ages 62 and 67. This allows us to employ...

When setting public policies on retirement incomes, governments should focus on objectives they have a unique capacity to influence. Only governments can reliably eliminate poverty in old age, level the tax and regulatory playing fields for financial service providers/savers and gather...