admin, Author at Pension Policy International

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

The Impact of Taxes and Social Spending on Inequality and Poverty in Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay (Spanish) – Working Paper 427

By Nora Lustig Using standard fiscal incidence analysis, this paper estimates the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty in thirteen countries in Latin America around 2010. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay are the countries which redistribute the most and El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras redistribute the least. Contributory pensions are significantly equalizing in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and also in Chile, Costa Rica and Ecuador but, in the latter, their effect is small. In the rest...

February 4, 2017

Articles, RegulationFinancial Inclusion, Social Protection

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

What Enron Means for the Management and Control of the Modern Business Corporation: Some Initial Reflections

The Enron case challenges some of the core beliefs and practices that have underpinned various positions in the debates about corporate law and governance, including mergers and acquisitions, since the 1980s. In particular, Enron raises at least the following problems for the received model of corporate governance: First, it provides another set of reasons to question the strength of the efficient market hypothesis, here, the company's dizzyingly high stock price despite transparently irrational reliance on its auditors' compromised certification. Second, it...

February 4, 2017

Articles, Investing, Pension designCorporate Governance, Management, Social Protection

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

Longevity Risk Management for Life and Variable Annuities: Effectiveness of Static Hedging Using Longevity Bonds and Derivatives

By Michael Sherris & Andrew Ngai For many years the longevity risk of individuals has been underestimated as survival probabilities improved across the developed world. The uncertainty and volatility of future longevity has posed significant risk issues for both individuals and product providers of annuities and pensions. This paper investigates the effectiveness of static hedging strategies for longevity risk management using longevity bonds and derivatives (q-forwards) for the retail products: life annuity, deferred life annuity, indexed life annuity and variable...

February 4, 2017

Articles, Investing, Pension designInvestment

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

Can International Capital Standards Strengthen Banks in Emerging Markets?

By Liliana Rojas-Suarez Who should determine banks’ capital standards: authorities or markets? What is the right definition of core capital: equity only or equity plus subordinated debt? Can the assessment of banks' individual credit risks by external rating agencies be of equal or better quality than the assessments derived from banks' own internal rating systems? These are some of the key financial regulatory issues currently being discussed by analysts in industrial countries, especially in the context of the proposed modification...

February 4, 2017

Adequacy, Articles, InvestingFunding

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

The Performance of Social Security Contributory and Tax-Financed Pensions in Central America, and the Effects of the Global Crisis

By Carmelo Mesa-Lago Sr. Over the last 30 years, Latin America has pioneered structural pension reforms. This article focuses on a representative regional sample of seven Central American countries with diverse levels of development (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) studying contributory and tax-financed pensions as well as recent pension reforms. It comparatively assesses system performance regarding five social security principles: unity; universal coverage; adequacy of benefits; equal treatment, solidarity and gender equality; and financial sustainability....

February 4, 2017

Articles, Regulation, System SustainabilitySocial Protection, Sustainability

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

Benchmarking Retirement Income Systems Around the World: Which Countries Rank Highest and Why?

By David Knox The variety of retirement income systems around the world is great, with varying dependencies on public-sector pensions, funded private pensions, and savings outside these formal systems. But which are producing the best outcomes? And which are sustainable into the future, as many countries face the effects of a significantly aging population? The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index considers more than 40 indicators in calculating an index value for the systems in 16 countries covering more than half...

February 4, 2017

Articles, Corporate Governance, System SustainabilitySustainability

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

What Replacement Rates do Households Actually Experience in Retirement?

By Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto This paper estimates how much people actually receive in retirement relative to earnings before retirement when all sources of income, including income generated by homeownership, are combined. Previous studies find that middle class people need between 70 and 75 percent of their pre-retirement earnings to maintain their life style once they stop working. The objective of this study is to determine what people are actually receiving in retirement. Regardless of how retirement income and...

February 4, 2017

Articles, Investing, SavingsInvesting, Replacement Rates, Savings

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

The Effect of Workplace Pensions on Household Saving: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan

By Tzu-Ting Yang Population aging causes financial imbalance in pay-as-you-go public pension programs.To remedy this problem while ensuring the adequacy of retirement savings for employees, many countries complement or substitute for public pensions by regulating workplace pensions. This paper exploits a pension reform in Taiwan that has mandated, since 2005, that all private-sector employers contribute at least 6% of wages to employees' individual pension accounts monthly. I use the workers in the unaffected sector as a comparison group and employ...

February 4, 2017

Aging, Articles, Labor Market, RegulationLabor Market, Savings

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

Technical Review Panel for the Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS)

By Olivia S. Mitchell, Christopher Geczy, Robert Novy-Marx, Raimond Maurer, Donald E. Fuerst, Christopher Bone, Donald J. Segal, Martin G. Clarke, Frank J. Fabozzi, Deborah Lucas & David F. Babbel In April of 2013, the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania convened a Technical Review Panel, comprising ten experts whose task it was to review the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS), including inputs, outputs, and model assumptions. The review...

February 4, 2017

Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension designInvesting, Labor Market

04FebFebruary 4, 2017

Security of Retirement Benefits in Canada: You Bet Your Life?

By Ronald B. Davis This paper provides a careful review and analysis of employment-based pensions and other post-retirement benefits that may be available to Canadian workers when they retire, with particular emphasis on the extent to which such benefits are vulnerable to unilateral employer alteration or cancellation, and to the risks which arise in the event of the employer's insolvency. Taking stock of key differences between the rights of unionized employees and non-unionized ones, the author argues that the legal...

February 4, 2017

Adequacy, Articles, Labor Market, RegulationInvesting, Regulation

February 2017