Social Security Expenditure and Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment

Posted: 23 May 2001

See all articles by Giorgio Bellettini

Giorgio Bellettini

University of Bologna - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Carlotta Berti Ceroni

University of Bologna - Department of Economics

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the empirical relationship between social security expenditure and economic growth, using cross-country data for a sample of 61 countries and panel data for a sample of 20 industrialized countries. We find that, whenever a statistically significant association between social security expenditure and growth exists, it has a positive sign. The positive estimated coefficient of social security expenditure seems robust to various forms of misspecification and appears to be larger in poor countries with relatively underdeveloped social security systems. As for the channels through which the positive effect of social security expenditure on growth should take place, our results seem to indicate that social security has a positive influence on human capital formation.

JEL Classification: O47, O11, O23, H55

Suggested Citation

Bellettini, Giorgio and Berti Ceroni, Carlotta, Social Security Expenditure and Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=248038

Giorgio Bellettini

University of Bologna - Department of Economics ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 2
I-40126 Bologna
Italy
+39 051 2098136 (Phone)
+39 051 2098040 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/giorgiobellettiniwebpage/

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Carlotta Berti Ceroni (Contact Author)

University of Bologna - Department of Economics ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 2
I-40126 Bologna
Italy
+39 051 2098017 (Phone)
+39 051 2098040 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
1,656
PlumX Metrics