January 2020

24Jan

OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal

By OECD This review provides policy recommendations on how to improve the Portuguese pension system, building on the OECD’s best practices in pension design. It details the Portuguese pension system and identifies its strengths and weaknesses based on cross-country comparisons. The Portuguese pension system consists of an old-age safety net, a pay-as-you-go defined benefit scheme and voluntary private savings. The safety net includes an old-age social pension and a complement (the so-called Complemento Solidário para Idosos or CSI), both...

January 24, 2020
Books, Pension design, System Sustainability, ,
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24Jan

Achieving Investment Excellence: A Practical Guide for Trustees of Pension Funds, Endowments and Foundations

By Kees Koedijk, Alfred Slager, Jaap van Dam Achieving Investment Excellence offers trustees and asset managers a comprehensive handbook for improving the quality of their investments. With a stated goal of substantially and sustainably improving annual returns, this book clarifies and demystifies important concepts surrounding trustee duties and responsibilities, investment strategies, analysis, evaluation and much more. Low interest rates are making the high cost of future pension payouts fraught with tension, even as the time and knowledge required to...

January 24, 2020
Books, Investment, Pension Management, ,
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24Jan

Health Inequality Among Chinese Older Adults: The Role of Childhood Circumstances

By Binjian Yan, Xi Chen, Thomas M. Gill This paper examines the extent to which childhood circumstances contribute to health inequality in old age and how the contributions may vary across key dimensions of health. We link the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2013 and 2015 with its Life History Survey in 2014 to quantify health inequality due to childhood circumstances for which they have little control. We evaluate comprehensive dimensions of health ranging from cognitive...

January 24, 2020
Aging, Articles, , , ,
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24Jan

Man versus Machine: A Comparison of Robo-Analyst and Traditional Research Analyst Investment Recommendations

By Braiden Coleman, Kenneth J. Merkley, Joseph Pacelli Advances in financial technology (FinTech) have revolutionized various product offerings in the financial services industry. One area of particular interest for this technology is the production of investment recommendations. Our study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the properties of investment recommendations generated by “Robo-Analysts,” which are human-analyst-assisted computer programs conducting automated research analysis. Our results indicate that Robo-Analysts differ from traditional “human” research analysts across several dimensions. First, Robo-Analysts collectively produce...

January 24, 2020
Articles, Investment, ,
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24Jan

What Aspects of Formality Do Workers Value? Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Bangladesh

By Minhaj Mahmud, Italo A. Gutierrez, Krishna Kumar, Shanthi Nataraj This study uses a choice experiment among 2,000 workers in Bangladesh to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for job attributes: a contract, termination notice, working hours, paid leave, and a pension fund. Using a stated preference method allows calculation of WTP for benefits in this setting, despite the lack of data on worker transitions, and the fact that many workers are self-employed, which makes it difficult to use revealed preference...

January 24, 2020
Articles, Labor Market
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24Jan

Italy readies pension reform, may end early retirement scheme ahead of schedule

Italy is preparing to reform its pension system again to make it more flexible for those who want to leave work early, officials say, and the changes may include ending ahead of time a costly but underused 2018 plan that lowered the minimum retirement age. With a steadily growing army of retirees, pensions in Italy are a national obsession and one of the most frequently debated topics on television talk shows. Under the 2018 “quota 100” plan, people can...

January 24, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
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24Jan

New York City Takes ‘Major US. Next Step’ on Fossil Fuel Divestments

Meketa Investment Group has been selected to evaluate options and develop a prudent divestment strategy from fossil fuel companies in alignment with the fiduciary duties for New York City’s largest pension funds, the city’s mayor and comptroller announced. “While the Trump administration fails to address global warming as the crisis it is, New York City is taking action,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are dedicated to delivering what we owe to our children and grandchildren, which is why...

January 24, 2020
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24Jan

Ireland. Short-term election promises on pensions will not solve a long-term problem

he Government’s intention to increase the age of payment of the State pension from 66 to 67 in 2021 and to 68 in 2028, is giving rise to much discussion as we head for the polls on February 8th. Some of the commentary is poorly informed, but understandably worry and even anger are being expressed by those most affected – particularly people who are contractually obliged to retire at age 65, or those whose work is so physically demanding...

January 24, 2020
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24Jan

Morneau Shepell releases the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds

Morneau Shepell (MSI.TO) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the fourth quarter and for year 2019. According to the report, in the fourth quarter of 2019, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 2.6 per cent before management fees. Since the beginning of the year, the return has been 15.8 per cent. "Both stock and bond markets posted very positive returns in 2019. The bond market posted a...

January 24, 2020
News, Slider, ,
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23Jan

French unions try to keep pension protest alive as deadline looms

Hardline French unions on Wednesday kept up a series of wildcat strikes aimed at ratcheting up pressure on the government before it presents the final version of a pension reform that has prompted France's biggest labour protest in decades. The government will unveil the revised pensions overhaul at a cabinet meeting Friday before submitting the draft law to parliament for debate set to begin on February 17. "It's going to be Friday or never," Philippe Martinez of the hardline...

January 23, 2020
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