Reference‐dependent preferences, time inconsistency, and pay‐as‐you‐go pensions.

The classic Aaron–Samuelson result argues that pay‐as‐you‐go (PAYG) pension schemes cannot coexist with higher‐return, private, retirement‐saving schemes. The ensuing literature shows if agents voluntarily undersave for retirement due to myopia or time‐inconsistency, then a paternalistic, rationale...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Economic Inquiry Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 1008 - 1031
Autores principales: Andersen, Torben M., Bhattacharya, Joydeep, Liu, Qing
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Jul2021
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The classic Aaron–Samuelson result argues that pay‐as‐you‐go (PAYG) pension schemes cannot coexist with higher‐return, private, retirement‐saving schemes. The ensuing literature shows if agents voluntarily undersave for retirement due to myopia or time‐inconsistency, then a paternalistic, rationale for PAYG pensions arises only if voluntary retirement saving is fully crowded out because of a binding borrowing constraint. This paper generalizes the discussion to the reference‐dependent utility setup of Kőszegi and Rabin (2009) where undersaving happens naturally. No borrowing constraint is imposed. We show it is possible to offer a non‐paternalistic, welfare rationale for return‐dominated, PAYG pensions to coexist with private, retirement saving.