October 2018

Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2018 released. Danish pension system among world’s best

Denmark rated second on Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2018 When it comes to enjoying the golden years of retirement, few citizens of the world have it better than the Danes. According to the new Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2018 (here in English), Denmark is second in the world when it comes to pension systems and received an A Grade for a score of 80.2 (out of 100). The only other country to obtain an A Grade was the Netherlands, which...

Croatians protest over government plan to raise retirement age

Several thousand people protested in Croatia's capital on Saturday over government plans to raise the retirement age to 67 and cut pensions for those who retire early. This week the government asked parliament to pass legislation lifting the retirement age of 65 from 2033 onwards, defending the reform as a step in efforts to make the pension system sustainable. The bill also includes a proposal to cut the pensions of people who stop working before reaching retirement age by about four...

Aging Japan rice farmers struggle

Grain falling out of favor with young consumers A crop once deemed so important it served as a form of currency, Japanese rice has fallen out of favor with younger, Westernized consumers, in a shift that has left ageing farmers struggling for survival. Rice consumption has nearly halved over the past 50 years, and as the older generation of farmers and consumers dies out, some fear the industry will be unable to hold its own in a competitive global market. Kazuo Ogura,...

Social Protection in Developing Countries: Reforming Systems

By Katja Bender,‎ Markus Kaltenborn,‎ Christian Pfleiderer Providing universal access to social protection and health systems for all members of society, including the poor and vulnerable, is increasingly considered crucial to international development debates. This is the first book to explore from an interdisciplinary and global perspective the reforms of social protection systems introduced in recent years by many governments of low and middle-income countries. Although a growing body of literature has been concerned with the design and impact of social...

In from the Shadow: Integrating Europe’s Informal Labor

By Truman G Packard,‎ Johannes Koettl,‎ Claudio Montenegro What to do about the extent of unregulated informal employment and the size of the shadow economy is a dilemma that has been gaining urgency, particularly in Europe's periphery. The forces that accompany globalization put a premium on mobility and skill-renewal. Rapid population ageing will require that people work longer and be far more productive. To achieve this, social and economic institutions have to be more pro-employment, encouraging greater participation in the...

The Pivotal Role of Fairness: Which Consumers Like Annuities?

By Suzanne B. Shu (University of California, Los Angeles - Anderson School of Management), Robert Zeithammer (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Anderson School of Management), John W. Payne (Duke University - Marketing) Life annuities can be a valuable component of the decumulation stage of wealth during retirement. While economists argue that most retirees should annuitize, actual demand in the marketplace is low. We analyze data from two studies to determine how measurable individual differences among consumers affect their...

The Chinese Pension System

By Hanming Fang (University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) & Jin Feng (Fudan University - School of Economics) We provide a detailed overview of the current state of the Chinese pension system, as well as its development, its problems and some ideas for future reforms. (more…)

Who Feels the Nudge? Knowledge, Self-Awareness and Retirement Savings Decisions

By Anders Anderson (Swedish House of Finance) & David T. Robinson (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) Using a financial literacy survey of Swedish pension investors matched to actual retirement savings decisions, we argue that respondents can be broken into three groups: those who are financially literate, those who mistakenly believe they are financially literate, and those who know that they are not. We examine how these groups respond differently to informational nudges encouraging...

México. Próximo gobierno espera obtener recursos adicionales a 1.92% del PIB

De acuerdo con el integrante del equipo de transición, Abel Hibert Sánchez, de este monto prevén destinar 189,970 mdp a pensiones, costo financiero, así como participaciones federales. El próximo gobierno espera obtener recursos adiciones por 474,758 millones de pesos (mdp) para el presupuesto 2019, equivalentes a 1.92% del PIB, producto del aumento en los ingresos públicos y la disminución del gasto corriente. De acuerdo con el integrante del equipo de transición de Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Abel Hibert Sánchez, de este...

Perú. AFP: uno de cada tres afiliados ha sido estafado por su empleador

Dentro del sector público y privado, afirma presidenta de la Asociación del sector La presidenta de la Asociación de AFP (AAFP), Giovanna Prialé, sostuvo hoy que un tercio de los afiliados a una AFP ha sido estafado por su empleador en algún momento. “De un universo de 6 millones 400,000 personas aproximadamente, tenemos que 2 millones 200,000 afiliados en algún momento de su vida se les retuvo el dinero y nunca se les depositó en su cuenta de capitalización individual”, manifestó...