February 2019

On the Political Feasibility of Increasing the Legal Retirement Age

By Benjamin Bittschi (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research) & Berthold Ulrich Wigger Within a politico-economic model we first establish three hypotheses: (i) Retirees generally prefer a higher retirement age than workers, whereby just retired individuals prefer the highest retirement age, (ii) in equilibrium the level of the legal retirement age is increasing in longevity and (iii) decreasing in the public pension replacement rate. We then test these hypotheses empirically. Employing micro data for Germany we corroborate the...

Pension Funds with Automatic Enrollment Schemes: Lessons for Emerging Economies

By Heinz P. Rudolph (The World Bank) Since the introduction of the KiwiSaver scheme in New Zealand in 2006, several countries have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, voluntary funded pension systems with automatic enrollment features. Since most of the literature has focused on countries with the common law tradition, including the United Kingdom and the United States, this note analyzes cases of countries with the civil code tradition, including Turkey, Poland, the Russian Federation, Chile, Brazil, and...

Auditoría Superior alerta por bajas pensiones en México

Los trabajadores en México recibirán una pensión promedio de un 24.3 por ciento de su último sueldo, alertó la Auditoría Superior de la Federación (ASF). Esta tasa de reemplazo, es decir, el ingreso mensual que recibirán los jubilados como proporción de su último salario, está ligeramente por debajo de las estimaciones de la Organización para la Cooperación y Desarrollo Económico (OCDE), que de por sí resultan “pesimistas’, de apenas un 26.4 por ciento. El organismo de vigilancia y seguimiento...

Brasil. Las diez claves de la reforma de pensiones presentada por Jair Bolsonaro

El presidente de Brasil, Jair Bolsonaro, presentó este miércoles al Congreso un proyecto para reformar el deficitario sistema de jubilaciones y pensiones del país y que entraña cambios sustanciales frente al actual modelo. Estos son los diez puntos claves de la reforma propuesta por Bolsonaro, en el poder desde el pasado 1 de enero. 1.- Establecimiento de una edad mínima El texto prevé una edad mínima de 62 años para las mujeres y de 65 para los hombres, con un...

Paraguay. Reforma tributaria y pensión se analizan con misión del FMI

La capacidad del país de lograr un mayor espacio fiscal que permita un mejor ambiente para la inversión en infraestructura y los gastos sociales es el desafío que se analiza en el marco de la visita de representantes del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), como parte de la misión de consulta del artículo IV. Diego Duarte, miembro del Directorio del Banco Central del Paraguay (BCP), informó que en la mañana de este jueves se llevó a cabo la primera reunión...

República Dominicana. Mayoría inversión de AFP está en el sector público

La mayoría de las inversiones de las Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones (AFP) se realiza en el sector público, representando un 62% del total de inversiones en enero del 2019 (RD$6,432 millones), mientras que solo un 16% (RD$1,008 millones) fueron realizadas en el sector privado, según un informe de la firma consultora Analytica RD. Las inversiones en el sector privado presentaron un decrecimiento de un 19% respecto al año anterior. El informe también señala que a inicios del 2019...

Cybersecurity risks

Data breaches created some of 2018’s biggest, most immediate scare stories for the general public. Facebook’s revelation in the spring that the personal information of at least 87 million users had been shared was just one of the standout examples. Asia, as it happens, went one better, with January’s disclosure that the personal information of every single one of the 1.1 billion-plus registrants for India’s Aadhaar unique identity number was up for sale. In this kind of environment, who...

Crypto Institutional Herd: University Of Michigan Looks To Bolster Blockchain Investment

Mike Novogratz, the chief executive of blockchain startup Galaxy Digital, recently remarked that institutions are “slow to move” when it comes to crypto assets. Yet, this doesn’t seem to be the case. According to an exclusive report from Bloomberg, the University of Michigan’s $12 billion endowment intends to siphon more of its funds into crypto-centric funds in the near future, in spite of the dramatic slump in the Bitcoin price. $12 Billion University Endowment Looks To Double-Down On Blockchain...

Pensions manager opens Uganda office

Local pensions manager Enwealth has started operations in Uganda where the firm plans to tap into the underserved small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. Following licensing by the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), the Kenyan company now joins nine other pension administrators serving the country's population. The firm’s expansion drives comes in the wake of ongoing reform agenda to liberalise the pensions sector in Uganda and broaden the coverage of pension schemes in the neighbouring country. Currently only...

Canada: Using benefits, pension programs to maximize CSR policies

Though the term ‘corporate social responsibility’ varies across companies and countries, it’s generally considered to be a form of organizational self-regulation focusing on an employer’s approach to sustainability across a variety of topics, such as environmental efforts, human rights, corporate governance, health and safety and economic development. Unilever’s sustainable living plan sets out ambitious targets for its environmental footprint and social impact, with two pillars focused on the health and well-being of its employees and its customers. “The first...