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Since the 1980s, policy makers have favored Defined Contribution (DC) pension systems as the alternative to address the unsustainability of Defined Benefit systems. While DC schemes offer benefits and economic advantages, they also present challenges and limitations. We evaluate the mandatory DC pension system for workers in the private formal sector in Mexico, introduced in 1997. We intend to determine for which workers the design of the system is effective and for which workers it is not. The Mexican labor market has high levels of informality and workers constantly flow in and out of the formal sector. Our findings support the view that workers' personal characteristics place them in the structure of the labor market that in turn determines pension benefits. We analyze involvement with the formal sector and the pension system and identify 3 groups of pension participants that reflect the structure of the local labor market: occasional workers, frequent interruptions, and workers with high participation rates. We conclude that frictions in the labor market prevail over the good intentions of the pension design, like reducing informality and encouraging saving for retirement. Our results show that the system properly serves only 36% of affiliated workers. We explain why very few workers report behaviors consistent with high participation, and why most affiliates have insufficient participation to receive pension benefits. We shed light on the relationship between the structure of the labor market and the design of the pension system and their impact on workers' future pension benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Denmark and Sweden, statutory retirement age is indexed to life expectancy to account for mortality improvements in their populations. However, mortality improvements have not been uniform across different sub-populations. Notably, in both countries, individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have experienced slower mortality improvements. As a result, a uniform rise in the statutory retirement age could disproportionally affect these low-SES groups and may unintentionally lead to a reverse redistribution effect, shifting benefits from short-lived low-SES individuals to long-lived high-SES individuals. The aim of this study is twofold: to quantify and contextualise mortality inequalities by SES in Denmark and Sweden, and to assess how indexing retirement age will affect future survival to retirement age by SES in these countries. We used Danish and Swedish registry data (1988–2019), to aggregate individuals aged 50 + based on their demographic characteristics and SES. We computed period life tables by year, sex, and SES to estimate the difference in survival across different SES groups. We then forecast mortality across SES groups to assess how indexing retirement age will affect survival inequalities to retirement age, using two forecasting models—the Mode model and the Li-Lee model. Mortality inequalities are comparable in Denmark and Sweden, even though the latter generally has higher survival. We also find that indexing retirement age to life expectancy will have two main consequences: it will reduce the probability of reaching retirement for all SES groups, particularly those of low SES, and time spent in retirement will be reduced, particularly for those of high SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research by demographers and economists has shown that longevity differs across socio-economic status (SES), with low-educated or low-income people living, on average, shorter lives than their better-endowed and wealthier peers. Therefore, a pension system with a unique retirement age is a priori problematic. The usual policy recommendation to address this problem is to differentiate the retirement age by SES. This paper explores the relative merits of partial de-annuitization of public pensions as a way of addressing the (imperfectly assessed) inequality of longevity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the relationship between company size and the attractiveness of company pension schemes - following the introduction of the Occupational Strengthening Pensions Act (OSPA) in Germany. The sample consists of 20 managers from different industries and company sizes. In the methodological part of this study, expert interviews were first conducted and then analysed using the MAXQDA coding programme. Furthermore, the analysed expert interviews were evaluated using quantitative research methods. The results show that there are no differences in the attractiveness of the company pension scheme between managers from different sized companies and sectors following the introduction of the OSPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to uncover, describe, and analyze existing inconsistencies between the parameters of the Bulgarian public pension system and international adequacy standards applicable to old-age pensions and embedded in Convention No. 102 of the International Labour Organization and the revised European Social Charter of the Council of Europe. The thesis is that the identified gaps, as they relate to the legislative framework but not to actions of national social policy authorities in implementing the legislation, are a result of political decisions that consistently undermine international commitments in the social policy area undertaken by Bulgaria. These decisions weaken important pension policy functions and especially its protection, insurance and distribution functions. The outcomes are higher risk of poverty among the elderly, decline in their economic status after retirement and vulnerability for pensioners during periods of sharp rise in the cost of living. Some issues about the future adequacy of public pensions within the interaction between public state social insurance and supplementary mandatory pension insurance are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of uncertainties in the future trends of mortality on annuity values in Singapore's compulsory purchase market. We document persistent population mortality improvement trends over the past few decades, which underscores the importance of longevity risk in this market. Using the money's worth framework, we find that the life annuities delivered expected payouts valued at 1.019–1.185 (0.973–1.170) per dollar of annuity premium for males (females). Even in a low mortality improvement scenario, the annuities provide an expected value exceeding 0.950. This suggests that participants in the national annuity pool have access to attractively priced annuities, regardless of sex, product, and premium invested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many south-east European states made the transition from socialist to market economies. All described here had to reform their pension systems to match the new context in which these operated. The experiences of 10 countries are reviewed – seven of which were once part of Yugoslavia. Some countries' reforms were more radical than others. Five of them merely adapted the Bismarckian systems they had inherited; four others adopted the "three pillar" model that the World Bank had been propagating. One went further than that. The four who followed World Bank model were often forced to backtrack. Whatever the longer-term benefits, they generated their own shorter-term fiscal problems. Nonetheless, the most radical reformer gives some indications of possible ways forward. The south-eastern European states do not have financial markets that can support capitalised/funded pension systems. Nor do they have the resources to pay proportional pensions that, at the same time, keep retired people out of poverty. The article suggests that their governments should concentrate upon improving economic performance to satisfy longer term aspirations and on ensuring that pensioners are able to live properly if not luxuriously by using tax-financed transfer measures. Provision above this level can be secured through savings plans, but it must be accepted that the investments to secure those savings will have to be made abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Secretary (16742354) is the property of Secretary Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background To investigate the current situation regarding the activities of daily living (ADL) of older adults living at home in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China and to analyze the associated factors of ADL performance so that we can provide references for the implementation of pension policies and long-term care insurance of older adults living at home. Methods We surveyed a total of 1040 older adults who live at home and receive home-based care in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region by a face-to-face evaluation. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors associated with ADL performance. Results In the study, 82.79% of the older adults living at home can live independently. A total of 11.92% of the older adults have mild dysfunction, 4.33% have moderate dysfunction, and 0.96% have severe dysfunction. Multiple logistic analyses indicated that older adults with very difficult economic conditions (OR 3.212; 95% CI(1.209–8.534)) and without a spouse (OR 1.616; 95% CI(1.098–2.377)) were significantly associated with ADL limitations. In addition, the risks of ADL limitations in older adults aged 60–69 years and 70–79 years were 0.187 and 0.4307 times, respectively, that of older adults over 80 years old. The risk of ADL limitations in older adults of the Han nationality was 0.605 times that of the minority population. More highly educated and older adults without diseases have a lower risk of ADL limitations. Conclusions Compared with the national average in China, the number of ADL limitations of older adults in Ningxia is greater and is associated with advanced age, ethnic minority status, low education level, low income, lacking a spouse and having diseases. As the number of older adults increases, maintaining and improving their ability to perform ADL and providing comfortable pension services and health services urgently need to be solved.

Sammendrag I Norge, som i mange andre land, får kvinner gjennomgående vesentlig lavere pensjon enn menn. Det norske pensjonssystemet har flere elementer som bidrar til å redusere dette kjønnsgapet, som omsorgsopptjening blant småbarnsforeldre og arv av pensjonsrettigheter etter avdød ektefelle, men disse ordningene innebærer økonomisk subsidiering av par med en tradisjonell, kjønnet fordeling av yrkesarbeidet. Et alternativt virkemiddel, som har vært diskutert i Norge, og som finnes i ulike varianter i andre land, er å innføre en form for deling av pensjonsrettigheter mellom ektefeller. Pensjonsreformen kan ha gjort slike ordninger mer relevante, men vi vet lite om befolkningens holdninger til dette. Basert på en survey fra 2017 (N=3 080) finner vi at både argumenter for og imot slike ordninger har støtte i befolkningen, og at reaksjonene varierer med spørsmålsformulering og kontekst. Oppslutningen om deling av pensjonsrettigheter mellom ektefeller er klart større blant kvinner enn menn og større blant gifte enn blant samboende og enslige. Kvinner i par med en tradisjonell arbeidsdeling er mer positive enn kvinner i likestilte par, mens mønsteret er motsatt for menn. Oppslutningen øker med utdanningsnivå, mens vi ikke finner klare forskjeller etter alder. Variasjonen i oppslutning følger bare delvis den politiske høyre-venstreaksen og dermed tradisjonelle familiepolitiske skillelinjer.

The paper analyses the pension reforms implemented during and after the Great Crisis in Italy (2011–2019), and evaluates whether a recalibration of the pension system and, more in general, of the Italian welfare state was involved. More specifically, through a multidimensional theoretical framework, the article assesses the distributive implications of the pension reforms not only within the pension realm but also by considering their interplay with those reforms that occurred in three specific sectors - namely, the labour market, the family, and anti-poverty policies. Pension reforms therefore are analysed in terms of welfare reform packages, where old and new policy instruments from different social policy fields are included. The work shows that recalibrating the Italian welfare state is still very difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that a mechanism‐based approach is a promising way for comparative analyses of social policy developments, as it allows to focus on specific sequences within broader processes, and to draw inspiration from elements of different theoretical approaches to explain these sequences. The article analyses the developments of the social insurance pension system in Vietnam and the national provident fund in Sri Lanka, which present two variants of a contribution‐based pension system. Despite different starting points and institutional and economic backgrounds, the article reveals that both countries are characterised by maintenance and expansion of their pension systems on the policy level, and limitations in expanding effective coverage on the implementation level. We identify three causal mechanisms that are crucial for understanding these developments: The policy‐areas‐interdependence mechanism explains how, in an integrated political system, policies are being maintained despite dysfunctions, because they have important stabilizing functions for other policy areas. The evasion mechanism explains how national policy actors on the surface follow International Organisations' recommendations and support further cooperation, while conducting reforms in line with national political considerations. The limited‐compliance mechanism explains how reforms that are being adopted on the policy level are not being implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1990s, the issue of an aging population has become one of the priority issues of the current Member States of the European Union. Historically, at least, individual concerns within each state have emerged long before we can discuss about a European policy in this direction. These concerns have naturally flowed from the evolution of European societies. The improvement of living conditions and scientific progress, especially in the medical field have led to the gradual prolongation of life expectancy. The average age of the European population has risen rapidly, while the fertility rate has fallen. The European demographic trend, visible since the 1990s, continued in the first decade of the 2000s, in parallel with unprecedented social and economic changes, which culminated in the economic crisis of a decade ago. During all this time, at the level of the European Union, but also at the level of the Member States, numerous measures and recommendations have been implemented to correct the negative effects of the aging population, promote active aging and increase the standard of living for this age group. In this study, we will analyze the most important statistical trends and policy adopted in this field at European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deborah Stone’s Policy Paradox stresses the role of narrative stories in the construction of policy problems. This article takes a critical look at the Policy Paradox and at the claim that paying close attention to narratives is essential to the analysis of policy change. Drawing on recent scholarship on the role of ideas in public policy, the article shows that the analysis of narratives is part of a broader intellectual project associated with the ideational turn in policy analysis. The article explains how the analysis of narrative stories should take institutional factors into account, which can shape policy decisions. To illustrate these theoretical claims, the article analyzes the debate over public pension reform in the United States and Canada during the last 25 years. More specifically, the article compares the reform of the Canada Pension Plan during the mid-1990s and the failed push to privatize US Social Security during the Bill Clinton and the George W. Bush presidencies. The analysis stresses that, while narrative stories shape problem definition, institutional legacies influence policy adoption.

German pension policy experienced a shift in the early 2000s, when public pensions were cut back, the retirement age raised, and private, publicly subsidized pension provision stipulated. Within a coherent reform narrative, those reforms were grounded on arguments of a ‘demographic time bomb’, a no-longer-affordable public pension scheme, and the return potential of private pension funds. Yet this narrative was delegitimized quickly with zero-rate-policy, and increasing old-age poverty in a lean public pension scheme. In such a situation, it can be expected difficult to either adapt the old narrative or construct new ones. This makes an interesting case for this article to study reform narratives and argumentative coupling in recent German pension policy through two contrasting cases: A failed attempt at establishing a minimum-pension scheme; and a ‘successful’ reform package combining a ‘mothers’ pension’ and exceptions for a full pension at age 63. Findings illuminate how the contrasting success of those reform proposals can be understood in terms of narrative stories: The reform which – political-strategically – could build on the ‘deservingness’ of the target groups could be agreed upon comparatively easily. Possible beneficiaries of a minimum pension are of varying ‘deservingness’, though, and narrating a more ‘problem-solving’ story has proven difficult.

Although regional policy experimentation has become a global trend, the distinct features of experimentalist governance in a given country, such as China, remains to be investigated. This article extends policy process theory by proposing the framework of experimentalist governance with interactive central–local relations or Chinese‐style experimentalist governance, which combines three features. First, policy goals and instruments are formed separately and interactively by the central and local governments. Second, the central government is burdened with its own concerns about policy performance for maintaining authority and legitimacy. Third, the evaluation of policy pilots relies primarily on the responses of local governments. We further conceptualize three new patterns of experimentalist governance in China, namely, "comparative trial," "selective recognition," and "adaptive reconciliation," in addition to "hierarchical experimentation." These patterns are illustrated with case studies on four pension policies in China, which are for public sector employees, urban employees, rural residents, and migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana is one of the countries in sub-Sahara Africa that is experiencing rapid growth of its elderly population. The elderly phase of life is often associated with degenerative conditions that affect the human capacity to function effectively and requires specialized care and income support to ensure the elderly do not suffer poverty, neglect and rejection. In 2008, policy makers in the country introduced a three-tier pension system to provide income security in old age and a cash transfer program to lift the poorest among the elderly out of poverty. In addition, the country's health insurance scheme grants exemption from payments of premiums to the elderly population. These interventions notwithstanding, evidence suggests that the elderly population continues to face several challenges. This paper critically analyses the three intervention and draws attention to the limitations that impede efficacy of the policies; and discusses options to improve the ability of programs associated with the various policies to deliver on their objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pension reform is one of the top public policy priorities in advanced industrialized countries due to population ageing and the significant weight of pension spending in governments' budgets. As a result of these concerns European countries have engaged in varying degrees of pension reforms over the last three decades. The extant literature on pension reform focuses on structural, institutional and blame avoidance theories to explain how pension reform take place. Yet, how do different conditions combine to lead to significant pension reform outcomes? To answer this question we analyze a set of 48 pension reform cases in eight European countries since the late 1980s up until 2014 by using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Our main finding is that institutional, structural or blame avoidance theories cannot account by themselves for instances of significant pension reform. Rather, we find three pathways that combine structural and institutional conditions to lead to significant pension reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years of pension policy drift in a broader context of global austerity, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) was enhanced for the first time in 2016 to expand benefits for Canadian workers. This article examines Ontario's central role in these reforms. The deteriorating condition of workplace plans, coupled with rising retirement income insecurity across the province's labour force, generated new sources of negative feedback at the provincial level, fuelling Ontario's campaign for CPP reform beginning in the late 2000s. The political limits of policy drift and layering at the provincial level is considered in relationship to policy making at the national level. As shown, a new period of pension politics emerged in Canada after 2009, in which the historical legacy of CPP's joint governance structure led to a dynamic of "collusive benchmarking," shaped in large part by political efforts of the Ontario government, leading to CPP enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing retirement ages in an automatic or scheduled way with increasing life expectancy at retirement is a popular pension policy response to continuous longevity improvements. The question addressed here is: to what extent is simply adopting this approach likely to fulfill the overall goals of policy? To shed some light on the answer, we examine the policies of four countries that have recently introduced automatic indexation of pension ages to life expectancy–The Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Slovakia. To this end, we forecast an alternative period and cohort life expectancy measures using a Bayesian Model Ensemble of heterogeneous stochastic mortality models comprised of parametric models, principal component methods, and smoothing approaches. The approach involves both the selection of the model confidence set and the determination of optimal weights. Model-averaged Bayesian credible prediction intervals are derived accounting for various stochastic process, model, and parameter risks. The results show that: (i) retirement ages are forecasted to increase substantially in the coming decades, particularly if a constant period in retirement is targeted; (ii) retirement age policy outcomes may substantially deviate from the policy goal(s) depending on the design adopted and its implementation; and (iii) the choice of a cohort over period life expectancy measure matters. In addition, the distributional issues arising with the increasing socio-economic gap in life expectancy remain largely unaddressed.

The aim of this paper is to present life expectancy of both genders depending on their income and to determine the impact of a possible regularity on the state pension policy. The study was based on the income of pensioners in Poland (over 5 million people receiving old-age pension). The results obtained made it possible to formulate several important conclusions: the rich live longer; the impact of income on life expectancy is much stronger among men than women; and with age, income has less and less impact on life expectancy. Consequently, in the capital model that is in force in Poland, the state should take this fact into account in its pension policy when calculating the amount of the benefit.

Focusing on financial outcomes in retirement for women, this paper critically examines the suite of "productivist" policies proposed by leading regional and global policy institutions as a solution to what they perceive as a potential population ageing crisis. Specifically, the paper challenges the claim that this suite of policies constitutes a virtuous system. Taking the life course timing of women's paid and unpaid work, we successively integrate the likely key consequences of "productivist ageing" policy in a series of retirement income scenarios. The series culminates in a situation where a mother twice enters and leaves paid employment to provide respectively child care and elder care. Rather than illustrating a sustainable system, our results indicate a viscous, intergenerational cycle in which impoverished caregivers are in turn forced to rely on the unpaid care of their adult daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without congressional action, the Social Security reserve fund will be exhausted by 2035. When that occurs, benefit payments must be cut by one-fifth. To avoid that outcome, Congress must agree on a reform plan that boosts revenues, cuts pensions, or does both. The choice of a reform strategy should depend on voters' support for the goals of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and evidence about the program's effectiveness in achieving those goals. This article explains the aims of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program, briefly describes how the program attempts to achieve those aims, and considers evidence on whether the goals have been achieved and at what cost. It then considers alternative reforms that address OASI's main problem, namely, the long-term shortfall in program revenues compared with pension commitments. It concludes by identifying the reforms that seem best suited to achieving OASI's core aims while conforming to voter preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deborah Stone's Policy Paradox stresses the role of narrative stories in the construction of policy problems. This article takes a critical look at the Policy Paradox and at the claim that paying close attention to narratives is essential to the analysis of policy change. Drawing on recent scholarship on the role of ideas in public policy, the article shows that the analysis of narratives is part of a broader intellectual project associated with the ideational turn in policy analysis. The article explains how the analysis of narrative stories should take institutional factors into account, which can shape policy decisions. To illustrate these theoretical claims, the article analyzes the debate over public pension reform in the United States and Canada during the last 25 years. More specifically, the article compares the reform of the Canada Pension Plan during the mid-1990s and the failed push to privatize US Social Security during the Bill Clinton and the George W. Bush presidencies. The analysis stresses that, while narrative stories shape problem definition, institutional legacies influence policy adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German pension policy experienced a shift in the early 2000s, when public pensions were cut back, the retirement age raised, and private, publicly subsidized pension provision stipulated. Within a coherent reform narrative, those reforms were grounded on arguments of a 'demographic time bomb', a no-longer-affordable public pension scheme, and the return potential of private pension funds. Yet this narrative was delegitimized quickly with zero-rate-policy, and increasing old-age poverty in a lean public pension scheme. In such a situation, it can be expected difficult to either adapt the old narrative or construct new ones. This makes an interesting case for this article to study reform narratives and argumentative coupling in recent German pension policy through two contrasting cases: A failed attempt at establishing a minimum-pension scheme; and a 'successful' reform package combining a 'mothers' pension' and exceptions for a full pension at age 63. Findings illuminate how the contrasting success of those reform proposals can be understood in terms of narrative stories: The reform which – political-strategically – could build on the 'deservingness' of the target groups could be agreed upon comparatively easily. Possible beneficiaries of a minimum pension are of varying 'deservingness', though, and narrating a more 'problem-solving' story has proven difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the pre- and post-2010 Hungarian political regimes through the lens of pension policies. We label the pre-2010 regime as democratic populist because it was characterized by fiscally irresponsible policies, yet it maintained the system of checks and balances and the rule of law. In contrast, we call the post-2010 regime authoritarian populist as it has employed authoritarian political techniques while maintained popular legitimation through regular elections. To substantiate the difference between the two periods from an economic viewpoint, we compare pre- and post-2010 pension policies to find important differences as well as surprising similarities. In particular, we analysed the following five policy aspects: (a) reform and partial privatization of the government-run pension system, (b) policies on the statutory (normal) and the effective (average) pension age, (c) indexation, (d) progression in benefits calculations and progressivity in the personal income tax, and (e) contribution rates. Based on ideological preferences, we argue that one would expect the pension system to become financially more sustainable but less redistributive after 2010 in comparison to the preceding period. Yet, we find that although pro-poor redistribution through the pension system has indeed been curtailed, fiscal sustainability has not improved due to the erratic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries – including Norway – concerns about the persistent gender gap in pensions have led to the introduction of child credits that compensate mothers for losing accrued pension rights while they care for small children. In political debates child credits are typically framed as being unequivocally women-friendly. But, although they help to reduce the gender gap in pension income, they tend to discourage mothers' paid work and favour couples with a gendered division of paid and unpaid work. This article uses survey data to investigate the extent to which the working age population in Norway supports the idea that parents (mothers) of pre-school children with low earnings should be compensated by the pension system. We examine whether the pattern of support is consistently gendered or whether there are internal cleavages among men and women according to socio-economic status and work-family adaptation. We find that, although both genders express positive attitudes, women are on average more inclined to support child credits than men, but with strong internal divisions. While less-educated women in families with a traditional division of labour constitute the most supportive group, highly-educated women in gender-equal families are as sceptical towards child credits as their male peers. Surprisingly, among both genders, we find that younger cohorts are as supportive as older cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks whether the EU's pension policy promotes and achieves financialisation of old age security. Financialisation in this context means financial market integration that, in conjunction with pension reforms in member states, creates a market-based mode of governance for old age security. After an overview of how significant private pension funds have become in the EU, the article takes a most-likely case study of financialisation, the Pan-European Pension Product (PEPP), to see how successful the EU's pension policy proved to be in establishing the PEPP. The findings suggest that EU policymaking in pensions tries to instrumentalise financial market integration for pension provision but this does not necessarily lead to financialisation of old age security. Market integration is a multi-faceted process of creating, emulating and correcting markets that obstructs a single-minded policy thrust like financialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare financialisation creates conflicts between the social objectives of households and the commercial interests of financial welfare providers. This paper investigates under what conditions regulations' that counter financial interests are more or less likely. It argues that our analytical focus should shift away from gauging the relative strength of organised interests or voter mobilisation, towards a better understanding of how policymakers play an independent role in shaping regulatory decisions in line with their own long-term objective: promoting private pension provision as an alternative to more extensive public provision. To support this argument, this paper examines a least-likely case study - namely the puzzling shift in the UK over the past two decades towards stricter regulation of the pension industry. Overall, the paper suggests that variation in regulatory decisions reflects the efforts by policymakers to balance the commercial viability and social-political stability of private pension provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract State and local government pension underfunding has become a major focus of public policy debate due in large part to recent Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) actions that have brought national attention to the issue. The extent of these plans underfunding has been debated, along with the necessity for state government intervention and the level of regulatory actions that should be enacted by state legislatures. State and local public pension plans do not fall under the enumerated powers of the federal government in the Constitution and are therefore left to each individual state to regulate. The amount of plan underfunding and enacted public policy by state varies greatly. Additionally, in contrast to numerous state balanced-budget laws, legal directives for fully funding public pensions are virtually non-existent. This paper analyzes the state and local public pension crisis, examines current and long-term risk, studies public employee fiscal conditions, considers the societal impacts of these plans, considers the strengths and weakness of pension plan types, recommends public policy and regulation, and offers strategies for managers, board members, and public officials to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Financial Space is the property of Cherkasy Institute of Banking, University of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the last 20 years, German policy makers have reformed the pension system and the labor market with the aim of prolonging working life. As a consequence, older workers' employment rate and average retirement age rose. In addition to the actual behavior of today's retiree cohorts, the reforms also influence the expected retirement age of future pensioners, the development of which will be investigated in this paper, arguing that they have adapted to the reforms and increased their expected retirement age. The analyses are based on data from the SOEP and DEAS survey and results show an increase of the expected retirement age. However, while high-skilled workers both want and expect to retire late, low-skilled workers prefer to retire early but expect that they have to work longer in order to ensure a reasonable pension. This finding hints at rising social inequality in the transition from work to retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines to what extent culture is a further piece of the puzzle to explain differences in the labour market participation of older people in Europe. This approach is in clear contrast to the existing literature on that topic which is largely economically oriented and more focused on socio-economic determinants. In the first part, different theoretical conceptions regarding the impact of culture on individual actions are discussed with the aim of developing the concept of work–retirement cultures. In the second part, the article gathers empirical evidence on differences in the work–retirement culture in 22 European societies and analyses the interplay between the work–retirement culture and the labour market participation of people aged between 55 and 64 years using logistic random intercept regression analysis. The analysis draws on the third round of the European Social Survey. The results give some clear indications that the work–retirement culture plays its part in explaining differences in the labour market participation of older people in Europe and thus clarifies that the timing of retirement is not fully determined by pension policies. Accordingly, the results of the study illustrate that it is not sufficient to solely change the legal rules for the transition to retirement. Rather, people need to be additionally convinced of the individual benefits of remaining in employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]