The Impact of Pension Funds Expenditures on Poverty and Inequality

Extended abstract Intorduction: One of the main objectives of social security programs (especially social insurance) is to alleviate poverty and inequality. Retirement insurance is one of the major subjects of social security, managed by pension funds. The activities of pension funds can affect a large population. Due to the increasing number of retirees in recent years, the expenses of pension funds have increased accordingly. Hence, it is essential to evaluate the relationship between pension fund expenses and poverty and inequality. The relevant literature suggests that the effect of social security expenses on poverty and inequality was found to be significant and sup - portive for insurance aspects. However, the effect of pension expenses of pension funds on poverty and inequality has not been investigated so far. Method: This study uses panel data, and the data were derived from statistical yearbooks. Poverty and inequality data were collected from calculated research data in a study called “examining the poverty and inequality in Iran between 2001 and 2019”, reported by Social Security Research Institute. The study adopts econometric methods to evaluate the research hypotheses using the panel data and Stata software. First, the data type and whether the effects are random or constant were determined using statistical hypothesis tests (e.g., F-test, Hausman test, and Lagrange coefficient). Then, the classic hypotheses were assessed, and the gener - alized least square (GLS) method was used in the case of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation. (soori, 2017).