February 2017

03Feb

Social Protection Floors Volume 1: Universal Schemes

By Isabel Ortiz, Valérie Schmitt & Loveleen De This volume showcases universal old-age and disability pensions as well as universal maternity and child protection schemes in developing countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, China, Colombia, Lesotho, Mongolia, Rwanda, South Africa, Thailand, Timor Leste and Trinidad and Tobago. The volumes in this Ilo series present best country experiences, useful for South-South learning, for practitioners, and to provide the basis for better informed policy-making. Full Content: SSRN

February 3, 2017
Articles, Labor Market, Regulation
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03Feb

Protección Pensional a Las Personas Sin Ingresos: Un Mandato Constitucional Colombia

By Alejandro Botero This paper identifies the specific characteristics of the Colombian pension model that demonstrate its incongruence with to the constitutional rules set out for the right to pension considered as an economic, social and cultural right. Therefore, the establishment of non-contributory pillars and the elimination of subsidies to the population with incomes are proposed as a step in correcting the current problems of the General Pension System. Full Content: SSRN

February 3, 2017
Artículos, Noticias, Spanish
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03Feb

Austerity, ageing and the financialisation of pensions policy in the UK

By Craig Berry This article offers a detailed analysis of the recent history of pensions policy in the United Kingdom, culminating in two apparent `revolutions' in policy now underway: the introduction of `automatic enrolment' into private pensions, and proposals for a new `single-tier' state pension. These reforms are considered exemplary of the `financialisation' of UK welfare provision -- typified in pensions policy by the notion that individuals must take personal responsibility for their own long-term financial security, and engage intimately...

February 3, 2017
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability,
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03Feb

Micro-pensions in India: Issues and challenges

By Savita Shankar & Mukul G. Asher This article aims to fill a gap in the social security literature on India by examining the role of micro-pensions. The analysis suggests that because of the heterogeneity of the target population, micro-pension products — with microfinance institutions (MFIs) as the main, but not only sponsors — should be voluntary and portable and permit experimentation in their design and in the delivery of services. Accordingly, decentralized micro-pension schemes that operate within an appropriate...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension design,
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03Feb

The commitment value of funding pensions

By Jean Denis Garon This paper studies how funding public pensions can improve policy outcomes when short-sighted governments cannot commit. We focus on sustainable plans, where optimal nonlinear pensions are not reneged on by sequential governments. Funding pensions is a commitment mechanism. It implies lower contributions than does the second best policy, which reduces temptation to over-redistribute later and to misuse revealed private information. Funding may be preferable even if the population growth rate is higher than the rate of...

February 3, 2017
Articles, Corporate Governance, Regulation, ,
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03Feb

Defined ambition pensions – Have the Dutch found the golden mean for retirement savings?

By Erik Schouten & Thurstan Robinson In February 2012, the UK minister for pensions proposed that companies should perhaps be able to provide a new type of pension – Defi ned Aspiration pensions or Defi ned Ambition (DA) pensions, as they are called in the Netherlands. In this article, we take a closer look at DA pensions, examining the Dutch experiences to date with the introduction of DA pensions . We look at what DA pensions have to offer employers...

February 3, 2017
Articles, Savings, System Sustainability, ,
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03Feb

Non-contributory pensions

By Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler & Rosangela Bando The creation of non-contributory pension schemes is becoming increasingly common as countries struggle to reduce poverty. Drawing on data from Mexico's Adultos Mayores Program (Older Adults Program) - a cash transfer scheme aimed at rural adults over 70 years of age - we evaluate the effects of this program on the well-being of the beneficiary population. Exploiting a quasi-experimental design whereby the program relies on exogenous geographical and age cutoffs to identify...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Labor Market, News
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03Feb

Shrouded costs of government: The political economy of state and local public pensions

By Edward L. Glaeser, Giacomo A M Ponzetto Why do public-sector workers receive so much of their compensation in the form of pensions and other benefits? This paper presents a political economy model in which politicians compete for taxpayers' and government employees' votes by promising compensation packages, but some voters cannot evaluate every aspect of promised compensation. If pension packages are "shrouded," so that public-sector workers better understand their value than ordinary taxpayers, then compensation will be highly back-loaded. In...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Regulation, System Sustainability,
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