April 2019

11Apr

Pension burden: More Japanese opt to retire late, extend employment period

Some economists expect the average pension-to-wage ratio to keep deteriorating and worries are growing that Japan's 'pay-as-you-go' pension scheme may be unsustainable Yasuhiro Furuse could have retired two years ago, but he wasn’t entirely happy with his pension income and had to put any such thoughts to bed.It was just as well for Furuse’s employer Orix Corp, a financial services group, which would have struggled to find a replacement, with Japan’s jobless rate at 26-year lows. This win-win arrangement, increasingly common...

April 11, 2019
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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08Apr

Demographic Challenges for Management: Fad or Reality?

By Eleanna Galanaki (Athens University of Economics and Business), Emma Parry (Cranfield School of Management), Ilona Bučiūnienė (ISM University of Management and Economics), Leda Panayotopoulou (Athens University of Economics and Business) Theory and practice in Human Resource Management (HRM) generally focuses on two levels of analysis: the individual and the organization. However, there is a growing recognition that HRM is manifested within larger environmental settings and several HRM researchers have approached the field with a more macro perspective. For example,...

April 8, 2019
Aging, Articles,
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08Apr

ESG Investing: From Sin Stocks to Smart Beta

By Fabio Alessandrini (University of Lausanne; Banque Cantonale Vaudoise) & Eric Jondeau (University of Lausanne - Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne); Swiss Finance Institute) Research on socially responsible investment in equity markets initially focused on sin stocks. Since then, the availability of data has been extended substantially and now covers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. Using ESG scores of firms belonging to the MSCI World universe, we measure the impact of score-based exclusion on both passive investment...

April 8, 2019
Articles, Investing, System Sustainability,
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07Apr

Lump-sum Pension Payments: Who Are the Winners and Losers?

By Olivia Mitchel The U.S. Treasury department’s move last month to allow private companies to pay lump-sum pension payments to retirees and beneficiaries, instead of monthly payments, is good news for companies that do not want to be saddled with long-term pension obligations – particularly for private sector employers who have underfunded pension plans.However, lump-sum pension payments may not work out well for retirees who opt for them. While a debate has ensued on the merits and risks of lump-sum...

April 7, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Pension Management, Savings, ,
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March 2019

31Mar

Individual Attitudes Towards Immigration in Aging Populations

By Rana Comertpay, Andreas Irmen (University of Luxembourg), Anastasia Litina (University of Ioannina) This research empirically establishes the hypothesis that the process of population aging in a society as a whole affects the attitudes of its members towards immigration. Hence, an aging social environment exerts an effect on the attitudes of individuals towards immigration after accounting for their age and other individual characteristics. We test this hypothesis in a multilevel analysis of individuals living in 25 European OECD countries over...

March 31, 2019
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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31Mar

Robo-Advisors: Investing Through Machines

By Facundo Abraham (World Bank), Sergio L. Schmukler (World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)), José Tessada (Business School, Pontificia Universidad Católica) Investing through online automated platforms, known as robo-advisors, is increasingly popular. Robo-advisors expand access to wealth management services by making it easier and less costly to open investments accounts and receive financial advice, as well as plan and automate investment decisions. However, the rise of robo-advisors requires consumers to understand the limitations of these services and to get...

March 31, 2019
Articles, Investing, Labor Market,
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27Mar

The phony retirement crisis

By Andrew Biggs Contrary to the alarms, household savings are growing. But government plans are underfunded. Lawmakers are taking action to deal with the “retirement crisis.” More than 200 House Democrats are sponsoring a bill to expand Social Security benefits, funded by a dramatic increase in taxes. California, Connecticut, Illinois and Oregon have established state-run retirement plans for private sector-workers, which many progressives hope will supplant 401(k)s. But there is no retirement crisis among either today’s retirees or tomorrow’s. Eight in 10...

March 27, 2019
Articles, Management, OP Ed, Savings, Slider-Left, System Sustainability, , ,
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25Mar

Enhancing the Sustainability of Indian Pension Disbursal-System by Employing Digital Technology

By Vijay Kumar Gupta (Government of India) India is a welfare state progressing well economically. If this progress is to continue without social upheavals, a sustainable social security system is mandatory. Pensions, and pension reforms, are an essential part of any social security system. This paper argues that it is imperative to reform the existing provident and pension fund entities. We also need better systems for administration and delivery of old age assistance. The major areas which the reforms should...

March 25, 2019
Articles, System Sustainability, ,
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25Mar

Superannuation in Australia: A Survey of the Literature

By Geoffrey Kingston (Macquarie University) & Susan Thorp (University of Sydney Business School; Financial Research Network (FIRN); Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR)) In 2017 Australian superannuation assets stood at 148 per cent of GDP, or $2.5 trillion in absolute terms. This was the world's fourth largest pool of retirement savings, a remarkable outcome over 25 years of the operation of the Superannuation Guarantee. We survey the local academic, industry and policy literature on the economics of superannuation during the...

March 25, 2019
Articles, Pension design,
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25Mar

Can an Ageing Workforce Explain Low Inflation?

By Benoît Mojon (Bank for International Settlements (BIS)) & Xavier Ragot (Banque de France) Why is wage inflation so weak in spite of the recent sharp reduction in unemployment? We show that this may be due to an ongoing change in the composition of the labor supply. Indeed, the participation rate of workers aged between 55 and 64 has increased steadily over the last decade, from a third to above a half on average across OECD countries. This is most...

March 25, 2019
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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