Assessing Welfare Accounts

Dennis Snower, Mike Orszag, Fölster, Stefan and Robert Gidehag

No 3479, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The paper examines the possible effects of introducing a large-scale welfare reform in Sweden, namely, the introduction of comprehensive welfare accounts. Under this policy, individuals make mandatory contributions to accounts, which they can top up with voluntary contributions. In return, individuals? welfare benefits are paid from their accounts. The paper uses a large panel of individual income data to examine how the adoption of universal welfare accounts may affect economic activity. We find that this policy could be designed so as to reduce social insurance expenditure considerably, improve the incentives to work and save, all with relatively small redistributive impact.

Keywords: Welfare reform; Welfare accounts; Social insurance; Taxes; Welfare state benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H21 H23 H51 H52 H53 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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