January 2018

15Jan

The Standard of Living: Incomes, Wages and Lending in Regions

By Alexandra Burdyak (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) - Institute for Social Analysis and Prediction) & Elena E. Grishina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) - Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting) In January–October 2017, households’ real disposable cash income fell by 1.3% as compared to the relevant period of 2016. It is noteworthy that real accrued wages rose by 3.0%, while the real size of assigned pensions, by 3.9%. During...

January 15, 2018
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15Jan

A Look into the United States’ Underfunded Pension System

By Jason Lin (Truman State University - Department of Business Administration) & Jane Sung (Truman State University) The public pension crisis has come under increasing scrutiny over the past decade as shifting demographic trends, harsh economic conditions and the very nature of pension funds have changed, and not for the better. Pension funds create valuable saving and investment tools for an individual's retirement. They make what seems like the impossible daunting task of saving sufficient funds for retirement completely feasible....

January 15, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability, , ,
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15Jan

Nudging Financial and Demographic Literacy: Experimental Evidence from an Italian Trade Union Pension Fund

By Francesco C. Billari (Bocconi University - Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management), Carlo A. Favero (Bocconi University - Department of Finance; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)) & Francesco Saita (Bocconi University - Department of Finance) In this article, we present and test experimentally a low-cost, Internet-based, financial literacy program that we designed for implementation with the largest industrial pension fund in Italy. The program, Finlife (Financial Education and Planning for a Long Life) included 1) an instructional...

January 15, 2018
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08Jan

Securing the Future for Old Age in the Asia and Pacific Region: Short-Term and Historical Challenges

By Christian Aspalter (BNU-HKBU United International College, Zhuhai, China) This paper sets out to summarize major conundrums, and some of their solutions, in pension reform policy of the years ahead, with particular reference to the Asia-Pacific Region, and here again, Japan and Thailand. The repercussions for non-action pertaining to the reform and overhaul of public pension systems go far beyond the realm of social policy and economic development. The twin-issue of old-age poverty and fiscal sustainability of public pension systems...

January 8, 2018
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, System Sustainability, , , ,
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08Jan

Are Cryptocurrencies Real Financial Bubbles? Evidence from Quantitative Analyses

By Marco Bianchetti (Intesa Sanpaolo - Financial and Market Risk Management; University of Bologna), Camilla Ricci (Intesa Sanpaolo-Financial and Market Risk Management) & Marco Scaringi (Intesa Sanpaolo - Financial and Market Risk Management) The growth of peer-to-peer exchanges and the blockchain technology has led to a proliferation of cryptocurrencies and to a massive increase in the number of investors who actually negotiate digital money. Cryptocurrencies trade at prices which is mainly driven by investor sentiment, becoming a potential source of...

January 8, 2018
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08Jan

Addressing Financial Illiteracy Through Financial Innovation: The Case for Goal-Specific Bonds the Embed Inflation and Compounding

By Arun Muralidhar (AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions; George Washington University) Financial illiteracy is widespread and leads to bad financial decisions (high debt, insufficient savings). Individuals cannot answer basic questions about inflation, compounding, and diversification. While financial literacy can be enhanced, are individuals teachable, and if so, what should they be taught and how lasting is the training? Prof. Merton suggests that some individuals can only be helped with innovation; Prof. Richard Thaler has argued for making the financial system more...

January 8, 2018
Articles, Investing, Labor Market, Savings, Slider-Left, ,
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December 2017

30Dec

The Household Savings Paradox

By Tobias Meyll (University of Giessen - Department of Financial Services), Thomas Pauls (Goethe University Frankfurt) & Andreas Walter (University of Giessen - Department of Financial Service) Using representative data from Germany, we reveal that more than 27.3% of the population not only restrains from participating in the stock market but also refuse to invest in contractual savings and retirement products. In fact, we find that these households rely on deposits only - an investment strategy usually related to negligible...

December 30, 2017
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30Dec

Reconsidering Revenue Sharing: Why Retirement Plan Sponsors Should Consider Breaking the Link between Investment and Plan Costs

By Marc Fandetti (P-Solve) Revenue sharing, the part (or “share”) of an investment manager’s expense that can be used to pay retirement plan costs, remains a common practice among defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors. This article looks at the reasons why revenue sharing arrangements should be reconsidered in light of increased legal scrutiny of the reasonableness of fees and the spirit of transparency motivating recently required disclosures to plan sponsors and participants. (more…)

December 30, 2017
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30Dec

How to Invest and Spend Wealth in Retirement? A Utility-Based Analysis

By Servaas van Bilsen (University of Amsterdam), A. Lans Bovenberg (Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research (CentER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)) & Roger J. A. Laeven (University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam School of Economics) This paper explores the optimal consumption and investment behavior of a retiree who derives utility from the ratio between consumption and an endogenous habit. By developing a non-trivial linearization to the budget...

December 30, 2017
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23Dec

The Modern Tontine: An Innovative Instrument for Longevity Risk Management in an Aging Society

By Jan-Hendrik Weinert (Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration) & Helmut Gründl (Goethe University Frankfurt - Department of Finance; International Center for Insurance Regulation) The changing social, financial and regulatory frameworks, such as an increasingly aging society, the current low interest rate environment, as well as the implementation of Solvency II, lead to the search for new product forms for private pension provision. In order to address the various issues, these new product forms should reduce...

December 23, 2017
Aging, Articles, Investing, Pension design, , , ,
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