August 2019

Delaying Retirement: Progress and Challenges of Active Ageing in Europe, the United States and Japan

Dirk Hofacker, Moritz Hess, Stefanie Konig To a backdrop of ageing societies, pension crises and labour market reforms, this book investigates how the policy shift from early retirement to active ageing has affected individual retirement behaviour. Focusing on eleven European countries, the United States and Japan, it brings together leading international experts to analyze recent changes in pension systems. Their findings demonstrate that there has been a fundamental transition in pension policies and a steep increase in...

Performance and Challenges of the Income Protection System for Older People in Ecuador

By Ignacio Raul Apella The purpose of this work is to analyze the performance of the Ecuadorian pension system, its challenges, and available policy options. Therefore, the study analyzes coverage, financing sufficiency, and sustainability indicators that were created based on information from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo (National Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment Survey) that was carried out over 2003-16. Likewise, actuarial simulations are made by using the World Bank pension reform options simulation toolkit. The findings...

July 2019

Aging Policy and Politics in the Trump Era: Implications for Older Americans

By Edward Alan Miller, Pamela Nadash, Michael K. Gusmano The surprise election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency of the United States marks a singular turning point in the American republic – not only because of his idiosyncratic approach to the office, but also because the Republican Party now holds the presidency and both houses of Congress, presenting a historic opportunity for change. The role of older Americans has been critical in both shaping and reacting to this...

Aging and Work in the 21st Century

By Kenneth S Shultz (Editor), Gary A Adams Aging and Work in the 21st Century, 2nd edition, reviews, summarizes, and integrates existing literature from various disciplines with regard to aging and work, but with a focus on recent advances in the field. Chapter authors, all leading experts within their respective areas, provide recommendations for future research, practice, and/or public policy. Fully revised and updated, the second edition takes up many of the same critical topics addressed in the...

Selecting a Social Security Age to Balance Consumption and Risk

By Barry Cobb, Jeffrey Smith This paper uses Monte Carlo simulation to determine the maximum consumption given retirement at age 62, initial wealth, risk tolerance, and Social Security take decision. Coile et al. (2002) argue for a delay, because the payment increases 7% for each year. Focusing on maximizing the expected present value of benefits may be misguided. This paper shows that, conditional on retirement at age 62, initial consumption is always maximized by taking Social Security no later...

June 2019

Trends in health and retirement in Latin America: Are older workers healthy enough to extend their working lives?

By Laeticia R.De SouzaaBernardo L.QueirozbVegard F.Skirbekkc To counter the problems of demographic ageing, Latin American countries, like many nations elsewhere, are considering raising the retirement age in order to maintain fiscal balance and sustain economic prosperity. In doing so, however, they must take into account not only the simultaneous decline in older adults’ labour force participation but also poor health among those potentially affected by the change. In this paper, we use country comparable census data for 1970–2010 to...

Do Immigrants Delay Retirement and Social Security Claiming?

By Mary J. Lopez, Sita Slavov As the share of older immigrants residing in the U.S. begins to rise, it is important to understand how immigrants’ retirement behavior and security compare to that of natives. This question has implications for the impact of immigration on government finances and for the retirement security of immigrants. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine how immigrants’ retirement and Social Security claiming patterns compare to those of natives....

Annuity Pricing in Public Pension Plans: Importance of Interest Rates

By Nino Abashidze, Robert L. Clark, Beth Ritter, David Vanderweide There is little systematic information on the distribution options in public sector retirement plans and how annuity options are priced relative to the standard single life annuity. This study examines the distribution options of 85 large public retirement plans covering general state employees, teachers, and local government employees. An important component of the analysis is the construction of a data set presenting the annuity options offered by each of...

How Will Retirement Saving Change By 2050? Prospects for the Millennial Generation

By William G. Gale, Hilary Gelfond, Jason J. Fichtner We consider prospects for retirement saving for members of the millennial generation, who will be between ages 54 and 69 in 2050. Adequacy of retirement saving preparation among current and near-retirees is marked by significant heterogeneity, a characteristic that will likely hold for Millennials as well. In preparing for retirement, Millennials will have several advantages relative to previous generations, such as more education, longer working lives, and more flexible work arrangements,...

May 2019

Pension Scheme Designs: Can It Influence Timing of Retirement? The Case of the Public Service Pension Scheme in Uganda

By Kibs Boaz Muhanguzi Ambiguity in literature about how pensions influence retirement decision can be a challenge to policy formulation unless further inquiry is done. This ambiguity could be attributed to a number of factors including the study scope, different pension designs and differing study methodologies. Using Uganda’s public service pension scheme, this study delves into exploring whether the scheme’s design influences timing of retirement. Using a probit model, analysis of the effect of pension o timing of retirement...