Research topic(s)
Demographic change has an impact on the sustainability of the statutory pension insurance. On the one hand, this poses a challenge for decision-makers, as they have to adequately communicate the necessary adjustments and convince those affected of their meaningfulness. On the other hand, this goes hand in hand with raising demands on the working population, because the resulting greater personal responsibility for old-age provision takes place in an environment of increasing uncertainty.
In the project funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, namely VHALTExternal link (together with the University of Mannheim), important insights are to be gained into the determinants and consequences of the (mis)understanding as well as the attitudes to the topic of old-age provision prevailing in the German population and the consequences with regard to provision-related behaviour. In particular, the aim is to investigate the acceptance of pension reforms and the role of information.
Methods
The project is based on data from qualitative studies (guided interviews) and quantitative, representative telephone surveys (CATI).
In the CATI survey, the method used is an information experiment on demographic change with a control/treatment approach. With this, we investigate whether saliance of and information about demographic change increase preferences for reforms in general as well as for specific reform measures that positively affect financial stability.
We find that the provision of information significantly increases the perceived need for reform. It also increases the likelihood that respondents favour raising the retirement age over other reform measures. Differences with regard to the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents can be identified.
The method allows conclusions regarding the causal effect of saliance and information on reform preferences.
Selected Publications
Schuetz JS, Uebelmesser S, Aprea C, Baginski R. (2022) Pension Reform Preferences in Germany: Does Information Matter?. University of Jena
Hessami Z, Uebelmesser S. (2016) A political-economy perspective on social expenditures: corruption and in-kind versus cash transfers.External link Economics of Governance, 17(1):71-100
Hessami Z, Uebelmesser S. (2013) Empirical determinants of in-kind redistribution: Partisan biases and the role of inflation. External linkEconomics Letters, 118(2):318-320
Uebelmesser S. (2004) Unfunded Pension Systems: Ageing and Migration. Contributions to Economic Analysis, 264, North-Holland: Amsterdam
