The realization that mere existence of health care facilities does not necessarily mean that they are readily accessible to the poorest section in the informal economy, tend to the evolution of a unique health insurance scheme, with contribution according to individual capacity. This paper examines several health insurance schemes catering to the informal sector as well as some critical issues ...

The equity premium puzzle shows that using standard parameters and setup, the Consumption-based Capital Asset Pricing Model’s (CCAPM’s) prediction of the premium associated with systematic risk is out by an order of magnitude. The object of this paper is to consider the implications of each of the broad classes of explanations of the equity premium puzzle for resource allocation, welfare and po...

Abstract This study compares the protective effectiveness of Social Safety Nets (SSNs) provided by government and NGOs in rural Pakistan, using quasi-experimental methodology on PRPHS (2011–12) data. The treatment group was households receiving SSNs assistance. counterfactual (control group) determined propensity score matching. Outcome indicators were shock-coping strategies from which are the...

We consider a two-period overlapping generations model in which individual voters differ not only according to age but also productivity. In such a setting, a (redistributive) Pay-As-You-Go system is politically sustainable, even when the interest rate is larger than the rate of population growth. The medium wages workers (not the lowest) join the retirees to form a majority and vote for a posi...

Retirement and Consumption in a Life Cycle Model Consumption expenditure declines sharply at the time of retirement for many households, but the majority maintain a smooth consumption path. A simple life cycle model with uncertainty about the time of retirement can account for this pattern. A richer version of the model is calibrated to data from the Health and Retirement Study. The median chan...

In this paper we study the implications of population ageing in an economy with a sizeable non-traded goods sector. To this effect a highly stylized micro-founded macro model is constructed in which the age structure of the population plays a non-trivial role. The model distinguishes separate birth and death probabilities (thus allowing for net population change), allows for age-dependent labou...

Using a calibrated OLG model with several sources of uncertainty we find that the impact of ageing and of reform of social security upon the demand for housing and the level of owner occupation is substantial. The overall structure of household asset holdings in particular the split between real and financial assets is sensitive to demographics and to the generosity of state run, pay-as-yougo p...

The 1999 reforms to the Korea National Pension Scheme resulted in a unique situation, in which those who were insured by the pension scheme and those who were uninsured coexisted. Exploiting this situation, this paper evaluates the effect of public pension on private savings. The estimation results show that the average effect is close to zero. Households with low or very high saving rates were...