Public Pensions and Elderly Mortality in Canada: Comparing Means tested

We investigate the impact of three public pension programs on the mortality rates of recipient age groups in Canada. The Old Age Pension (OAP), introduced in 1927 for Canadians over age 70, and Old Age Assistance (OAA), implemented in 1952 for Canadians aged 65–69, were means tested programs while Old Age Security (OAS), introduced in 1952 for Canadians over age 70, was a universal plan. Our data consist of age-specific mortality rates and pension information, by province, for the period 1921– 1966. The three dimensional feature of this panel allows us to exploit variation in policy implementation dates across provinces, and changes in income and age group eligibility. We find that the implementation of all three pension programs resulted in statistically significant reductions in recipient age group mortality rates and that the effect of the federal universal OAS of 1952 was twice as large as either of the means tested plans. However, the number of lives extended with the universal OAS was small and the estimated cost per life extended large