In Canada, there are three main sources of government-provided retirement income: the Canada/Quebec Pension Plans (C/QPP), which have benefits and contributions based on earnings up to the Yearly Maximum Pensionable Earnings; Old Age Security (OAS), which is a fixed amount for most but does...

This paper attempts to focus the definition of a social security system at its most basic level. In doing so, it discovers a number of truths: 1. PAYGO systems are not remarkably different from fully funded systems. 2. Fully funded systems are not demographically immune. 3. Fully funded systems...