The economic effects of private social security accounts

Abstract

Since the 1980s, over 30 countries have implemented various kinds of personal social security accounts. Most counties have adopted them as a part of their social security systems, to also continue to fund their public pay-as-you-go system. This paper analyses the effects of adopting private accounts, as well as the percentage of income paid into private accounts, on GDP per capita growth. Global panel-data regressions over time are used, as well as sample splits for developing countries and separately for Latin America, where many countries adopted some form of private accounts following Chile's ground-breaking example of a complete switch from public to private social security system. The paper estimates statistically significant effects of privatising parts or all of social security on countries' GDP per capita growth. Private accounts also benefit stock market growth and enrolment rates in secondary and higher education, as well as in reducing government expenditures and national debt.