October 2026

The DC Future Book 2026

By Pensions Policy Institute This report is the twelfth edition of the Pensions Policy Institute’s (PPI) The DC Future Book, setting out available data and analysis on the Defined Contribution (DC) landscape. Demographic and policy changes indicate that, compared to previous generations of pensioners, current and future retirees can expect to: Live longer on average, Receive their State Pension later, Be more likely to reach retirement with DC savings forming an important part of their pension provision, and with less DB...

The Pensions Brief: October 2026

By Andrew Block & Katherine Carter The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a market oversight report on investment by UK pension schemes in private markets, particularly UK private markets. Key findings include: Trustees are open to UK private market investments if the investments offered meet the scheme’s investment needs and characteristics. DC schemes and master trusts with the necessary scale and capacity have made significant progress, but appetite is limited among DB schemes to invest in private markets beyond private credit...

The Underpensioned: Updating the Gender Pension Gap

By Pensions Policy Institute The Gender Pension Gap (GPG) is a measure of difference, or inequality, in pension outcomes for men and women. This can be considered in terms of either the disparity in the pension wealth accumulated or by the income they receive in retirement as a result of that pension wealth. It has been suggested that the GPG should be subject to statutory reporting requirements, in the same way as the Gender Pay Gap.8 While the GPG is widely...

September 2026

Two Measures, Opposite Trends: Remittance Receipt in Mexican Household Surveys, 2008-2026

Por Walter Guevara Household surveys that ask about private transfers rarely separate support sent from abroad from the broader category of economic support a household may receive. Mexico's National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE) contains both items. This note documents that the two move in opposite directions over 2008-2026, and that the difference is large enough to change substantive conclusions. Among adults aged 50 to 70, receipt measured by the broad item rose from 19.0 percent in 2008 to...

August 2026

Expanding Social Protection and Addressing Informality in Latin America

By Jens Matthias Arnold, Aida Caldera & Elizabeth Friesen Informality remains a defining feature of Latin America’s labour markets, with around half of workers employed outside formal arrangements. While rates have slowly declined in some countries, progress is uneven and fragile. The many faces of informality — from self-employed vendors to domestic workers and employees in small firms — highlight the diverse realities of those without contracts, secure incomes, or access to social protection. The COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up...

AI, Fiscal Space, and Social Protection in Four Latin American Economies: ;A Scenario-based Threshold Framework

By Vicenzo Scavino Can fiscal space from artificial intelligence finance recurrent social protection in Latin America? This paper develops a prespecified, scenario-based feasibility test that translates an AI dividend into income and fiscal capture, compares it with policy costs, and applies debt-consistency and persistence screens. For Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, no deterministic crossing occurs under non-stress scenarios because translation and capture jointly fall short. Crossings arise only under diagnostic disruption: Chilean guaranteed minimum income is conditionally feasible and debt-consistent;...

July 2026

2026 Read on Retirement: A new era of retirement

By Black Rock When we look at confidence, we see savers who feel better about retirement than they have in years. But beneath that optimism, retirement income expectations and savings behavior tell a different story. And that gap is not experienced equally. Retirement challenges increasingly vary by generation and gender— revealing a retirement system that is becoming more individualized. Workplace savers increasingly know what they need to do, but competing financial priorities are making it harder to act. The challenge is less...

Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2024

By OECD This study presents a range of indicators to enable comparisons between the pension systems of economies in the Asia/Pacific region. It also includes data for the larger countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). The report was drafted by Andrew Reilly of the Social Policy Division of the OECD Secretariat. Lucy Hulett prepared the manuscript for publication. For this sixth report we are again indebted to the national experts who contributed to...

Transductive infrastructure: The role of ICTs in the UK and EU’s policy initiatives on financial literacy

By Jing Wang & Jiuheng He Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become central to public-facing policy programs, yet they remain undertheorized, only treated as either instruments or objects of such policies. This paper argues that ICTs in such programs operate as transductive infrastructures, a delivery chain not only transmitting policy information but also defining the intentions and consequences of the stakeholders. Through a comparative analysis of three recent financial literacy initiatives: the UK's Money and Pensions Service, the European...

When States Break Promises: Informal Insurance Responses to Pension Reform

By Alina Malkova When governments expand pension systems, families reduce intergenerational transfers. This paper tests the reverse: do families substitute back toward informal insurance when governments renege on pension promises? I study Russia’s 2014 funded pension freeze, which eliminated future contributions for workers born after 1967, using RLMS panel data (2010–2023) and a cohort difference-in-differences design. Affected households increased financial transfers to adult children by 3.5 percentage points under a conservative age×year fixed effects specification and by 6.5 percentage points...