The political economy of social security: a survey

This paper surveys the literature on the political economy of social security. We review models that address the following questions: (i) Why do social security programs that transfer resources from young and middle-aged workers to the elderly exist? (ii) What are the economic and political interact...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European Journal of Political Economy 2002-03, Vol.18 (1), p.1-29
Main Authors: Galasso, Vincenzo, Profeta, Paola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Income Distribution
Income redistribution
Multidimensional voting
Political Economy
Political influences
Political pressure
Political sustainability
Redistribution
Social Security
Social security reforms
Voting behaviour
Welfare policy
Welfare State
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Summary:This paper surveys the literature on the political economy of social security. We review models that address the following questions: (i) Why do social security programs that transfer resources from young and middle-aged workers to the elderly exist? (ii) What are the economic and political interactions between social security systems and other redistributive programs of the welfare state? (iii) How does political sustainability shape social security systems in a dynamic economic and demographic environment, and which social security reforms are politically feasible? We characterize this literature along two lines: economic factors and political institutions. We then assess the empirical relevance of the models by comparing their implications to stylized social security facts.
ISSN:0176-2680
1873-5703
DOI:10.1016/S0176-2680(01)00066-0