The Introduction of Bismarck's Social Security System and its Effects on Marriage and Fertility in Prussia

Abstract

Economists have long argued that introducing social insurance will reduce fertility. The hypothesis relies on standard models: if children are desirable in part because they provide security in case of disability or old age, then State programs that provide insurance against these events should induce couples to substitute away from children in the allocation of wealth. We test this claim using the introduction of social insurance in Germany in the period 1881-1910. Bismarck's social insurance scheme had three pillars: health insurance, workplace accident insurance, and an old-age pension. Earlier studies typically focus on the pension alone; we consider all three pillars. We find that Bismarck's social insurance system affected fertility overall only via its effects on the incentive to marry. The old-age insurance by itself tended to reduce marriages, but the health and accident insurance components had the opposite effect. For people exposed to all three pillars of social insurance, the two effects cancelled each other and the aggregate effect on fertility was muted. fertility transition; economics; social insuranceIt is no coincidence that the very first country to introduce comprehensive old age pension insurance has today fallen behind. Germans have had generations since 1889, when Bismarck introduced the insurance, to experience how one can cope with old age without having children. Pension insurance has taken over responsibility for income in old age and thus contributed significantly to the childlessness of Germans.

Prediction models and associated factors on the fertility behaviors of the floating population in China

“…The precondition for new industry workers to settle down was to acquire sufficient material basis, which was closely related to new industry workers' occupation, income ( 35 ), and housing ( 38 ). In addition, some economists believed that the introduction of social insurance might reduce the population's fertility rate ( 39 ). The involvement of healthcare services was required during the reproductive process ( 40 ).…”

Old Age Security: Impacts of Social Security Systems on Households Fertility Decisions

“…Similar results have been found by Coeurdacier et al [5], where they analyze the effects of expanding social security on the number of children in China. There are additional studies analyzing the effect of social security on fertility in many other contexts, for example, Germany [6,7], Prussia [8], U.S. and Europe [2], and across-country analysis [9,10].…”

Análisis de las Apps Covid en la Unión Europea: entre la excepcionalidad y la protección de los derechos fundamentales

“…La primera se manifiesta desde la cuestión de clase, defendida y promovida por los movimientos sociales y políticos y la arquitectura de pensamiento marxista del siglo XIX. La primera versión del contrato estableció unas instituciones económicas que excluían a las masas obreras de la participación en el beneficio, algo que se cambió poco a poco a través de hitos como la consecución del voto universal, la jornada de ocho horas o la creación de los primeros sistemas de seguridad social, como en la política de Bismarck (Marshall y Bottomore, 1998;Guinnane y Streb, 2021). Hoy de nuevo algunos autores como Thomas Piketty (2019, 2021) cuestionan las dinámicas de acumulación de capital permitidas por el sistema económico institucional, y la participación de las masas populares de los beneficios de la producción y la redistribución de la riqueza.…”