{"title":"Age-dependent risk aversion: Re-evaluating fiscal policy impacts of population aging","authors":"Phitawat Poonpolkul","doi":"10.1016/j.jeoa.2023.100474","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The existing literature on fiscal unsustainability in the United States often evaluates three alternative policies: increasing the payroll tax<span> rate, reducing pension benefits, and extending the retirement age. Studies suggest that reducing the replacement rate and increasing the retirement age provide higher welfare for future generations. However, these studies often assume constant risk aversion (CRA), which contradicts the empirical evidence that suggests risk aversion tends to increase with age. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of risk aversion, life-cycle behavior, and welfare under uncertainties, this study integrates age-dependent increasing risk aversion (IRA) into an overlapping generations model with risk-sensitive preferences. The quantitative analysis shows that individuals who exhibit IRA tend to adjust hours worked to reduce income risk and accumulate more precautionary savings to ensure future consumption. However, reducing uncertainty consumes resources that could otherwise have been used to increase overall consumption and leisure. Individuals who expect to become more risk averse in old age may prefer an increase in the payroll tax rate over the other two options, as the latter would result in relatively higher uncertainty.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":45848,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Economics of Ageing","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100474"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Economics of Ageing","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X23000348","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The existing literature on fiscal unsustainability in the United States often evaluates three alternative policies: increasing the payroll tax rate, reducing pension benefits, and extending the retirement age. Studies suggest that reducing the replacement rate and increasing the retirement age provide higher welfare for future generations. However, these studies often assume constant risk aversion (CRA), which contradicts the empirical evidence that suggests risk aversion tends to increase with age. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of risk aversion, life-cycle behavior, and welfare under uncertainties, this study integrates age-dependent increasing risk aversion (IRA) into an overlapping generations model with risk-sensitive preferences. The quantitative analysis shows that individuals who exhibit IRA tend to adjust hours worked to reduce income risk and accumulate more precautionary savings to ensure future consumption. However, reducing uncertainty consumes resources that could otherwise have been used to increase overall consumption and leisure. Individuals who expect to become more risk averse in old age may prefer an increase in the payroll tax rate over the other two options, as the latter would result in relatively higher uncertainty.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the Economics of Ageing (JEoA) is an international academic journal that publishes original theoretical and empirical research dealing with the interaction between demographic change and the economy. JEoA encompasses both microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives and offers a platform for the discussion of topics including labour, health, and family economics, social security, income distribution, social mobility, immigration, productivity, structural change, economic growth and development. JEoA also solicits papers that have a policy focus.