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Without increasing contribution rates of the old-age pension, the reserve of Thai social security fund will drop to zero in 2052. The general average premium (GAP) is 23.5 percent, four times larger than the current legal contribution rate, for the study period from 2015 to 2115. If the old-age pension fund is financed by the contribution rate of 23.5 percent, the fund reserve will last until 2115, at which time the contribution rate must be instantly raised to 32.81 percent, the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) cost rate in 2115. The plausible approach is to slowly increase the contribution rate by scaled premium method. For the fund to be sustainable, the increased contribution rates should be implemented in conjunction with extending the retirement age from 55 to 60 and achieving higher investment return. To ensure that the pension benefit will be sufficient for pensioners, the defined-benefit formula should be revised to have a feature that automatically adjusts the benefit to take into account the cost of living. Key words: social security, pension, general average premium (GAP), pay-as-you-go (PAYG) cost rate, scaled premium, JEL Codes: H55, Q75, and J26, Financial Sustainability of Social Security Schemes Around the World Financial sustainability has been the primary concern for social security programs around the world. The costs of social security provision have [...]

The mean age at marriage is increasing in nearly all regions of the world, with the gender age difference at marriage tending to decrease. Five hypotheses for these trends (economic modernization, supply and demand, social/cultural/religious influences, healthcare quality, and longevity risk sharing) are tested through cross-country regression analyses of the timing and prevalence of marriage, using 40 explanatory variables from 156 countries. The dependent variables are female mean age at marriage, gender age difference, and proportion of females married by age 20-24. Ample evidence of the impact of economic modernization and education is found. The influence of cultural beliefs is evidenced by the presence of religious variables in several selected regression equations. KEYWORDS. Marriage patterns, international comparison, cross-sectional regression, spatial autocorrelation

This article provides a theoretical model to explain endogenous fertility and use the panel data of 169 countries to analyze the extent to which fertility behaviors are influenced by financial development and social security tax. A negative effect of financial development on fertility supports the evidence that people in countries with lower levels of financial development tend to have more children. Those people in countries, where there is limited access to other risky investments, tend to have more children. In addition, those who are poor are more likely to have more children, which will lower their overall welfare, and further reduce their investment in capital markets. Social security tax also has a negative impact on fertility behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]