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The Political Economy of Public Pensions by Eileen Norcross,Daniel J. Smith Pdf
Public pensions in the United States face an impending funding crisis in the wake of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 recession. Many cities and states will struggle to meet these growing obligations without major cuts in government services, reneging on pension promises, or raising taxes. This Element examines the development of the pension crisis through the lens of political economy. We analyze the knowledge and incentive problems inherent in the institutional structure, governance, and accounting of public pensions. We conclude by offering several institutional, governance, and reporting reforms to address the pension funding crisis.
The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation by Anke Hassel,Tobias Wiß Pdf
The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation addresses – for numerous countries – how and why pension reforms have come to rely more on financial markets, how public policy reacted to financial crises, and regulatory variation. The book demonstrates how the process of pension financialisation reveals that pension policy is not only a social policy that affects retirement income, but also a financial policy that impacts savings rates, corporate finance and the economy. The chapters shed light on pre-funded private pensions as one key component of financialisation, as they turn savings into investments via financial services providers. Readers will also see how pension financialisation and the broader financialisation of the economy are here to stay, despite negative developments during and after the financial crisis. A systematic and comparative overwiew of the financialisation of pensions, The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation is ideal for scholars and postgradues working on Political Economy, Public Policy and Finance. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.
The Political Economy of Pensions by Richard Lee Deaton Pdf
In 2011, the 'Baby Boom' generation will begin to retire. Bythen, the stark reality of the 'greying' of the population inNorth America and Western Europe will have brought the inadequacies ofthe state and private pension systems home to all levels of society,and the pension crisis will be actual rather than impending. In ThePolitical Economy of Pensions, Richard Deaton explores the factorsinvolved in this high-profile issue of public policy and shows theinsufficiency of recent reform initiatives in Canada, the UnitedStates, and Britain. Four converging considerations explain theimminence of the pension crisis.
Evelyne Huber,John D. Stephens,United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
Author : Evelyne Huber,John D. Stephens,United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Publisher : Conran Octopus Page : 66 pages File Size : 44,7 Mb Release : 2000 Category : Latin America ISBN : IND:30000082175831
The Political Economy of Pension Reform by Evelyne Huber,John D. Stephens,United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Pdf
Since pension schemes-along with health care and education-absorb the largest amount of social expenditure in all countries, their reform has a potentially major impact both on the fiscal situation of the state and on the life chances of citizens who stand to win or lose from new arrangements. This makes pension reform a highly controversial issue; and, except for the addition of new programmes and benefits, major restructuring of existing pension systems has been extremely rare in advanced industrial democracies. It was also rare in Latin America before the 1980s and 1990s. But there has been a great deal of experimentation within the region during the past decade. This paper examines the larger economic, social and political context of Latin American pension reform and compares experiences in different countries of the region with options available in Western European societies during the same period. The authors argue that the type of pension reform undertaken in Latin America has been an integral part of the structural adjustment programmes pursued by Latin American governments, under the guidance of international financial institutions (IFIs). Although there was a range of possible remedies to the problems of pension systems in different Latin American countries, neo-liberal reformers and the international financial institutions preferred privatization over all others. They claimed that privatization would be superior to other kinds of reform in ensuring the financial viability of pension systems, making them more efficient, establishing a closer link between contributions and benefits and promoting the development of capital markets-thus increasing savings and investment. And they were able to push through some of their suggestions for reform in spite of considerable opposition from pensioners, trade unions and opposition political parties. Interestingly enough, their pressure proved least effective in the more democratic countries of the region. In Costa Rica, for example, citizens preferred to reform the public system-eliminating the last pockets of privilege for public sector workers and ensuring that new levels of contribution would be adequate to provide minimum benefits for the aged and infirm. In Uruguay, citizens forced a public referendum, through which they rejected a proposal for privatization. At a later stage, they did permit the introduction of private investment accounts, but not at the cost of eliminating the public programme. In Argentina and Peru, after the legislature refused to authorize partial privatization, this was eventually pushed through by presidential decree. Only in Chile and Mexico has there been a complete shift to private pension funds-but, in both cases, influential sectors of the elite, including the military, have been allowed to keep their previous, publicly managed group funds. Looking at the only privatized pension system in existence long enough to allow for some assessment of its consequences-that of Chile-the authors find that many of the claims made by supporters of privatization are not substantiated by the evidence. The first discrepancy between neo-liberal predictions and the reality of Chilean pension reform has to do with efficiency. All previous claims to the contrary, private individual accounts have proven more expensive to manage than collective claims. In fact, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, by the mid-1990s administration of the Chilean system was the most expensive in Latin America. The second disproved claim involves yield. When administrative costs are discounted, privately held and administered pension funds in Chile show an average annual real return of 5.1 per cent between 1982 and 1998. Furthermore high fees and commissions-charged at a flat rate on all accounts-have proven highly regressive. When levied against a relatively modest retirement account, for example, these standard fees reduced the amount available to the account holder by approximately 18 per cent. When applied to the deposit of an individual investing 10 times more, the reduction was slightly less than 1 per cent. The third discrepancy involves competition. Although it was assumed that efficiency within the private pension fund industry would be associated with renewed competitiveness-while the public pension system represented monopoly-the private sector has in fact become highly concentrated. The three largest pension fund administrators in Chile handle 70 per cent of the insured. And to reduce advertising costs, public regulators are limiting the number of transfers among companies that any individual can make. A fourth unfulfilled promise of privatization in Chile has to do with expansion of coverage. It was assumed that the existence of private accounts would increase incentives for people to take part in the pension sc heme, but in fact this has not happened. Coverage and compliance rates have remained virtually constant. A fifth major claim was that the conversion of the public pension system into privately held and administered accounts would strengthen capital markets, savings and investment. But a number of studies have recently concluded that, at best, this effect has been marginal. And finally, the dimension of gender equity within a fully privatized pension scheme is being subjected to increasing scrutiny. Women typically earn less money and work fewer years than men. Therefore, since pension benefits in private systems are strictly determined by the overall amount of money contributed to them, women are likely to receive considerably lower benefits. Public pension systems, in contrast, have the possibility of introducing credits for childcare that reduce this disadvantage. Sweden is an example of countries that have embarked on this course. In the latter part of the paper, Huber and Stephens widen their comparative framework to include recent pension reforms in advanced industrial countries. There, where economic crisis was not as severe and where pressure from international financial institutions was not significant, much broader options for reform were available. In fact, although long-established systems were under stress, no developed country opted for complete privatization. Complex measures were taken to strengthen the funding base of national pension systems, including changes in investment procedures and changes in rules for calculating pension benefits. Reforms also increased retirement age, as well as the number of years required to qualify for a full pension. But even the most thoroughgoing reforms retained a central role for public schemes in ensuring old-age benefits. In conclusion, the authors consider steps that can be taken to craft pension reforms with more desirable results than those obtained to date in Latin America. They recommend measures that address the problem of an aging population by increasing the ability of each generation to pay for its own pensions-rather than relying primarily on the contributions of preceding generations of insured workers. Pension payments should be invested in a variety of financial instruments and benefits must ultimately be related to the yields obtained. Such a strategy does not require introduction of privately managed, individually held, investment funds. On the contrary, risk is lessened by relying instead on collectively managed funds, in which accounts can either be identified with individuals or-more equitably-with generations of contributors. Reformed public pension systems should also contain minimum "citizenship pensions" that guarantee subsistence income in old age to all individuals as a matter of right. Such a measure, financed from general tax revenue rather than from personal contributions, is not beyond the means of medium income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, some Nordic countries introduced citizenship pensions when their GNP per capita was lower than that of most Latin American countries today.
Rethinking the Welfare State by Martin Rein,Winfried Schmähl Pdf
The contributions to this volume offer an analysis of the pensions crisis: how it has come about, what it means and what measures can be taken to offset the effects of a massive shortfall between the available resources and public expectations.
Neoliberal calls for welfare state reforms, especially cuts to public pensions, are a contentious issue for employees, employers, and national governments across the western world. But what are the underlying factors that have shaped the response to these pressures in Canada and Australia? In Beyond the Welfare State, Sirvan Karimi utilizes a synthesis of Marxian class analysis and the power resources model to provide an analytical foundation for the divergent pattern of public pension systems in Canada and Australia. Karimi reveals that the postwar social contract in Australia was market-based and more conducive to the privatization of retirement income. In Canada, the social contract emphasized income redistribution that resulted in strengthening the link between the state and the citizen. By shedding light on the impact of national settings on public pension systems, Beyond the Welfare State introduces new conceptual tools to aid our understanding of the welfare state at a time when it is increasingly under threat.
Political Determinants of Evolution and Reform of the German Public Pension Plan by Nicole Petrick Pdf
Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1,3, Humboldt-University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: The paper discusses the evolution and reform of the German public pension plan in respect to its history, theoretical approaches to explain the choice and evolution of pension plans and takes current issues in account in order to evaluate the suggestions made and to show what political determinants influence future reform. Part 1 of this paper will give a short review of the history of the German public pension plan between the late 19th century and today. Part 2 will show how decisions made in the past could be explained and will use political approaches to explain the choice and evolution of pension schemes and pension reform. Part 3 of this paper will then consider the current problems faced by the pension system and will discuss different proposals made. It will consider the current situation of the German public pension plan and will use political determinants in order to examine how the future reform of the public pension fund in Germany could develop. A small critique will be given at the end.
First published in 1998, this volume was developed as part of the Stockholm Initiative and sets out to assess the situation of providing for retirement and pensions. In the wake of intense debate over pay-as-you-go pensions, Lawrence Thomson for the most part leaves social and cultural issues for subsequent analysis, instead examining the economic
The Political Economy of Pension Reform in Central-Eastern Europe by Katharina Müller Pdf
This volume contains the findings of the research project "Institutional Change in Social Security: Pension Reforms in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic," which was completed in early 1999. Muller, a research fellow with the Frankfurt Institute for Transformation Studies at the European University Viadrina, examines the partial privatization path that Poland and Hungary chose, and compares their Latin American-styled methods to those of the Czech Republic (which fall well within the boundaries of the Bismarckian-Beveridgean pension traditions). In particular, she looks at which structural-institutional and actor-related factors account for radial pension reform. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Public Pensions and Economic Growth by Berthold U. Wigger Pdf
This book studies the normative and positive ramifications of public pension policies in a growing economy. It analyzes the impact of an unfunded public pension scheme on aggregate productivity growth and efficiency, it considers the political forces behind public pension legislation, and it develops and discusses elements of public pension design and reform. The book emphasizes the endogenous growth paradigm for an understanding of the dynamic impact of intergenerational transfers inherent in an unfunded public pension scheme. It uncovers an allocative role of intergenerational transfers which is exclusively linked to the possibility of endogenously evolving economic growth. The endogenous growth approach also allows to identify unfunded public pensions as a source of a conflict between current and future generations. This conflict shapes private old-age security considerations as well as the process of public pension legislation.
Social Security Reform by Robin Brooks,Assaf Razin Pdf
As population aging has become increasingly acute in many countries, the debate over how to reform often creaking public pension systems has gathered momentum. In many cases, this debate has become politicized and the focus on some of the underlying economic issues has been lost. This volume hopes to redress some of this imbalance. It begins by examining the rationale behind why public pension systems were introduced originally - out of fear that individuals do not adequately save for retirement. It then systematically examines different aspects of reforming these systems. It covers the fiscal repercussions of reform, the implications of the baby boom on asset returns in the years ahead, the political economy of the reform process, and finally the risk-sharing implications that are inherent in reform. An important additional goal of this volume is to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible: students, academics, and policy makers.
Public Pensions, Capital Formation, And Economic Growth by Miltiadis Nektarios Pdf
Dr. Nektarios examines the principles and criteria under lying public pension programs and assesses the effect of these programs on general economic growth. He begins by discussing the economic rationale of public pensions, then analyzes the influence of economic and demographic variables on the cost of a pension program and the effects of public pension systems on aggregate levels of income and capital stock. Suggesting that Feldstein's social security wealth(SSW) variable overestimates the amount of wealth generated by public pensions, Dr. Nektarios constructs a new SSW variable and uses it to estimate the impact of the u.s. Old Age and Survivors Insurance(OASI) program on capital formation and economic growth in the U.S. economy. The results of his econometric analysis suggest that operation of the OASI program has reduced capital formation by 10to 14 percent.
Public Pensions and Immigration by Tim Krieger Pdf
"This book will appeal to researchers and scholars in the fields of economics, public choice, political science, European integration and migration. Policymakers involved in pension policy, immigration policy and European integration policy will also find this an illuminating book."--BOOK JACKET.
The Political Economy of Social Security by B.A. Gustafsson,N.A. Klevmarken Pdf
In many western countries with slow economic growth and population growth the increasing cost of the social security system is a concern. The contributions in this volume address this issue from various angles, theoretically as well as empirically and also taking into account institutional conditions. This book discusses current social security policy issues and related research from a number of western countries. Papers include the following subjects: - Recent policy changes in the UK and the Federal Public of Germany - Distributional effects of social security - Public choice models of social security - Economic incentive effects of unemployment insurance and occupational pensions - The macroeconomic effects of the growth of benefits and their financing
