Ageing is the major challenge for the PAYG pension systems in developed countries. Most of them are undergoing reforms in order to adapt to the new demographic reality. The package of reforms implemented includes increasing the retirement age, reducing the replacement rate, or introducing a sustainability factor linking pension to life expectancy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential consequences of a different type of reform that is at a very incipient stage in Spain but that could have a significant impact if it were fully implemented. This reform, called 'silent reform' because it is imperceptible to citizens in its early stages, basically consists in increasing maximum pensions in line with inflation instead of wage or productivity growth. This policy is reducing the replacement rate only for high earning workers and increasing the redistributive component of the system. This paper is the first to quantify and evaluate the potential consequences of this type of reform in Spain. We have used an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping genera

In this paper we analyze the influence that incentives play in the timing of the transition to retirement in Spain. We use the Continuous Sample of Working Histories 2006 (CSWH "Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales", in Spanish) to construct incentive measures from the Social Security provisions in relation to retiring at old age. We analyse the role played by such incentives and other socio-economic variables on the retirement hazard of men aged between 60 and 70, using a duration model to carry out a dynamic analysis. We assess the effects of the pension system reform that took place in 2002, which set stricter conditions to access an old pension. The results show that both the pension wealth and the substitution effects play a significant role in retirement decisions, but that, after the reform, the latter effects become less important.

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