On the Possibility of Pareto-Improving Pension Reform

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a simple framework for the analyses of the transitions between two steady states with different fiscal policies. This allows us to clarify the existing results on the possibility of Pareto-improving transitions from pay-as-you-go to fully funded pension systems. We show that the reduction in the marginal tax rate is a sufficient condition for the possibility of such pension reforms. Second, the paper investigates the features and the duration of the shortest Pareto-improving pension reform in an open economy.