Differential mortality and redistribution in the French pension system

Les Lundis de l'Ined

17/04/2023

l’Ined de 11h30 à 12h30, en présentiel en salle Sauvy & en visioconférence via zoom

Intervenant : Simon Rabaté (chercheur Ined, UR09 : démographie économique, affilié à l'Institut des politiques publiques de Paris & à the Centraal Planbureau) ; discutant : Mickaël Zemmour (économiste, maître de conférence à l'Université de Paris I)

Differences in life expectancy between income groups are important and can generate large implicit (anti)redistributive effects in pension systems. Our study employs administrative data from the private sector's second-pillar pension scheme to quantify these effects. Our analysis finds a notable gradient in life expectancy among men based on their permanent income, with a difference of around seven years. For women, this gradient is smaller, at around two years. Next, we evaluate the redistributive impact of the pension scheme and find that high-income earners have higher return on contributions than their lower-income counterparts. This is because the unequal life expectancy among different income groups more than offsets the scheme's redistributive features.

Biographie de l'intervenant :

Simon Rabaté is a researcher at Ined, in the Economic Demography Unit (UR09). He is also a research affiliate at the Institute of Public Policy (IPP, Paris) and at the Centraal planbureau (CPB). He received his Ph.D. in economics from EHESS.

He is an applied microeconomist specialized in labor economics, inequalities and public policy evaluation. His research focuses on the link between the effect of the tax and transfers system on inequality and individual behaviors.