Welfare effects of alternative pension reforms : Assessing the transition costs for French socio-occupational groups

International audienceIn this paper, we assess the welfare costs and gains of different scenarios of pension reforms in France, using a life-cycle model including various sources of heterogeneity and distinguishing between socio-occupational groups. The pension reforms considered combine features regarding the generosity of the pension system as well as features regarding the financing schemes: PAYG, the build-up of a temporary fund and that of a permanent one. We focus on both macro and distributional issues. It appears that (i) a considerable increase in savings is to be expected, even in the case where pensions remain generous, (ii) a considerable crowding-out effect would occur in the case of the constitution of a fund trust, (iii) reducing the generosity of pension seems relatively more beneficial to low-income low-life expectancy agents, while (iv) postponing the legal retirement age benefits relatively more high-income high-life expectancy agents