Andreas Thiemann

How Does Maternal Pension Wealth Affect Family Old-Age Savings in Germany?

This paper examines how families adjust their private old-age savings in response to a change in individual pension wealth. The regression discontinuity approach exploits two expansions of the child care pension benefit, in 1992 and in 1999, as natural experiments. The empirical analysis is based on three waves of the Survey of Income and Expenditure (EVS): 1998, 2003 and 2008. All results indicate that families do not adjust their private old-age savings in response to the increase in their pension wealth. From a political point of view, this suggests that the increase in individual pension wealth does not crowd-out old-age private savings. Hence, child care pension benefits increase a mothers old-age income without causing negative savings effects.

Pension Wealth and Maternal Employment: Evidence from a Reform of the German Child Care Pension Benefit

This paper uses administrative data to investigate how a change in pension wealth affects a mother’s employment decision after child birth. I exploit the extension of the child care pension benefit in 1992 as a natural experiment in a regression discontinuity design to estimate short- and medium-run employment effects. In comparison to most family benefits, the child care pension benefit is accumulated upon child birth but only becomes effective on the verge of retirement. Hence, the employment response depends on how a mother discounts future pension benefits. The results suggest that the change in pension wealth does not affect maternal employment, which is not in line with a forward looking rational behavior. Therefore, the child care pension benefit increases maternal old-age income without causing negative employment reactions.

Family Pension Benefits and Maternal Employment: Evidence from Germany

Child-raising pension benets in Germany are designed as a compensation for maternal employment interruptions due to child-birth. In comparison to most other family benets,

The Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece

We analyze the top tail of the wealth distribution in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be underrepresented in household surveys we integrate the big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. Instead of the Forbes list we mainly rely on national rich lists since they represent a broader base for the big fortunes. As a result, the top percentile share of household wealth in Germany jumps up from 24 percent in the HFCS alone to 33 percent after top wealth imputation. For France and Spain we find only a small effect of the imputation since rich households are better captured in the survey. The results for Greece are ambiguous since the data do not show clear concentration patterns.