The Work Resumption Program (WGA) & The preferences of Dutch Citizens regarding the pension system
On Monday June 18, Netspar will host a taskforce regarding the above mentioned subject at Erasmus University. More information on the program and paper can be found after this.
The impact of the work resumption program of the disability insurance scheme in the Netherlands
Tunga Kantarci, Jan Maarten van Sonsbeek, Daniel van Vuuren
Abstract:
This paper evaluates the work resumption program of the disability insurance scheme intro- duced in 2006 in the Netherlands, which rewards partially disabled workers if they utilize their remaining earning capacity above a threshold rate. Using administrative data on all partially disabled workers between 2006 and 2013, the results of difference-in-difference re- gressions suggest a substantial and statistically significant increase in daily earnings of 5 euros corresponding to 8 percent of the average daily earnings during disability. The in- crease in daily earnings attains 7.7 euros for employees with pre-disability earnings of at least twice the minimum wage, and 8.2 euros for employees younger than 45 years of age. We disentangle between anticipation and response effects, and show that the anticipation effect contributes to the program effect by a much larger amount.
The preferences of Dutch citizens with regard to the pension system
Martin Olsthoorn
Abstract:
In the debate surrounding the Dutch pension system, it is often stated that the pension system has lost citizens’ trust. To restore this trust, it is proposed that the system should become more personalized and transparent, should redistribute differently and should offer more room for customization or choice. The question remains whether these changes are valued by all Dutch citizens, or only by some specific groups. What are the preferences of Dutch citizens with regard to the pension system, and how do various groups differ in their preferences? We expect people with a low socioeconomic status to place more emphasis on the systems’ outcomes and less on the systems’ workings, than do people with a higher socioeconomic status. To test this hypothesis a vignette study was executed amongst of 3700 Dutch citizens, with a deliberate overrepresentation of the self-employed. Respondent could choose between different pension system modalities, with varying characteristics of the first and second pillar.
