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 …

The assumption behind discrete hours labour supply modelling is that utility‐maximising
individuals choose from a relatively small number of hours levels, rather than being able to …

This paper attempts to clarify what trade-offs might exist between equity and growth. It is
found that (i) there is not enough evidence to state definitively that inequality is either good …

Politics, ageing and pensions What is the future of social security systems in OECD
countries? We suggest that the answer belongs to the realm of politics, and evaluate how …

Countries with low intragenerational redistribution in social security systems (Bismarckian)
are associated with larger public pension expenditures, a smaller fraction of private pension …

This article revisits the relationship between inequality and redistribution in a panel of
advanced OECD countries. Using panel data methods that hold constant a variety of …

This paper surveys models of voting on redistribution. Under reasonable assumptions, the
baseline model produces an equilibrium with the extent of redistributive taxation chosen by …

Doubts about the ability of industrialized countries to continue to provide a sufficient level of
retirement benefits to a growing number of retirees has fueled much recent debate and …

According to the economic literature, high‐skilled emigration may either harm or benefit
developing economies. Recent research highlighted several positive and negative channels …

Public social expenditure accounts for 25 per cent of GDP, or even more in some countries.
That expenditure on this scale has some effect on growth seems very likely, but the direction …