Social security and retirement across the OECD

Alonso-Ortiz, Jorge (2010): Social security and retirement across the OECD. Unpublished.

Abstract

Employment to population ratios differ markedly across OECD coun- tries, especially for people over 55. Social security features also differ markedly across the OECD, particularly with respect to replacement rates, entitlement ages and earnings tests. I conjecture that differences in social security features explain many differences in employment to population ratios at older ages. I assess my conjecture quantitatively with a life cycle general equilibrium model of retirement. At ages 60-64 the correlation between my model’s simulations and observed data is .67. Replacement rates and the earnings tests are key features.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Social security, retirement, idiosyncratic labor income risk
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J14 - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment > E24 - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H53 - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J26 - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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