Survivor Benefits and the Gender-Related Tax Differential in Public Pension Schemes: Observations from Germany
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Martin Werding
Summary
As a result of fundamental changes in marriage behaviour and the typical division of labour between married spouses, the traditional form of providing survivor benefits within public pension schemes could now be seen as inequitable. Since these non-contributory benefits usually substitute for individual pension entitlements based on the surviving spouse’s own contributions, they can also lead to incentive effects that appear to be far from optimal. In particular, they may weaken work incentives for married women with some degree of labour-force attachment. The present paper highlights this problem referring to institutional details and empirical results related to Germany and shows how it could be resolved by jointly annuitizing a given couple’s pension entitlements. Problems of transition, with the potential for a Pareto-improvement, are neglected.
© 2008 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Inhalt / Contents
- Editorial Announcement
- Abhandlungen / Original Papers
- Precautionary Saving and Income Uncertainty in Germany – New Evidence from Microdata
- Verteilungseffekte der öffentlichen Finanzierung der Hochschulbildung in Deutschland: Eine Längsschnittbetrachtung auf der Basis des Sozioökonomischen Panels / The Distributional Effects of Public Higher Education Financing in Germany: A Longitudinal Approach based on the Socioeconomic Panel
- Demand Elasticities for Mobile Telecommunications in Austria
- Der Beschäftigungsbeitrag kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen nach der EU-Definition / The Employment Contribution of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises According to the EU-definition
- Zur Evolution des deutschen Konjunkturzyklus 1958-2004 / On the Evolution of German Business Cycles 1958-2004
- Survivor Benefits and the Gender-Related Tax Differential in Public Pension Schemes: Observations from Germany
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Inhalt / Contents
- Editorial Announcement
- Abhandlungen / Original Papers
- Precautionary Saving and Income Uncertainty in Germany – New Evidence from Microdata
- Verteilungseffekte der öffentlichen Finanzierung der Hochschulbildung in Deutschland: Eine Längsschnittbetrachtung auf der Basis des Sozioökonomischen Panels / The Distributional Effects of Public Higher Education Financing in Germany: A Longitudinal Approach based on the Socioeconomic Panel
- Demand Elasticities for Mobile Telecommunications in Austria
- Der Beschäftigungsbeitrag kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen nach der EU-Definition / The Employment Contribution of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises According to the EU-definition
- Zur Evolution des deutschen Konjunkturzyklus 1958-2004 / On the Evolution of German Business Cycles 1958-2004
- Survivor Benefits and the Gender-Related Tax Differential in Public Pension Schemes: Observations from Germany
