Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Seminar Papers,
Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies
No 686: Five Fallacies in the Social Security Debate
Mats Persson ()
Additional contact information
Mats Persson: Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, Postal: Stockholm University, S-106 69 Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract: This paper discusses five examples of the conventional wisdom that has often been expressed in the social security debate, even among academic economists. These are: 1. The major problem in most social security systems is that of demography: people simply live too long. 2. Disregarding the issue of demography, a Pay-As-You-Go system is inferior to a fully funded system since the former usually has a lower rate of return. 3. Disregarding the portfolio aspect (which might favor a PAYG system), a funded system dominates a PAYG system in a world of certainty. 4. The social security system is a suitable instrument for intergenerational risk sharing. 5. The government is a safe and reliable provider of insurance.
Keywords: Social security
JEL-codes: H55
24 pages, June 1, 2000
Full text files
FULLTEXT01
- Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies
- Ordering Working Papers
- Home page for this series
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Hanna Christiansson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:11:56.