Discussion paper

DP4706 Is There a Political Support for the Double Burden on Prolonged Activity?

In many countries elderly workers are subject to a double distortion when they consider prolonging their activity: the payroll tax and a reduction in their pension rights. It is often argued that such a double burden would not be socially desirable. We consider a setting where it would be rejected by both a utilitarian and a Rawlsian social planner. Furthermore, each individual would also reject it as a citizen candidate. We show that the double burden may nevertheless be (second-best) Pareto efficient and can be supported by a particular structure of social weights biased towards the more productive workers.

£6.00
Citation

Pestieau, P, H Cremer and G Casamatta (2004), ‘DP4706 Is There a Political Support for the Double Burden on Prolonged Activity?‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4706. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp4706