Altruism and fairness in a public pension system

Altruism and Fairness in a Public Pension System^*

Eline C.M. van der Heijden^**, Jan H.M. Nelissen^*** and Harrie A.A. Verbon^**

November 22, 1994

Revised version, February 6, 1995

Abstract

In this paper it is empirically investigated whether feelings of altruism towards members of other gener-
ations and senses of justice have an impact on the individual’s evaluation of the public pension system.
The data have been obtained from a large-scale survey carried out among a representative sample of
the Dutch population in January 1994. The main topic of the questionnaire is the evaluation of changes
in the pension system that have varying income effects for different generations. We find that young
and middle-aged people indeed seem to be affected by feelings of altruism and fairness whereas the
elderly appear to be non-altruistic.

JEL classification codes: H55, D63.

Key words: public pensions, direct utility measurement, ageing.

^*An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th ESPE conference, July 2-4, 1994, Tilburg University.
The research was sponsored by the Centre for Population Studies (CEPOP), which is part of the Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Useful comments by Nicole Boelens, Arjan Lejour and Martijn
van de Ven are gratefully acknowledged. Mailing address: Eline van der Heijden, Tilburg University, Department
of Economics, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. E-mail: Eline.vanderHeijden@kub.nl.

^**Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University.

^***Department of Social Security Studies and WORC, Tilburg University.

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