October 2022
14Oct

Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2022

By Mercer & CFA Institute Mercer and the CFA Institute released its 14th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI). Iceland’s retirement income system has once again topped the list, with The Netherlands and Denmark retaining second and third places respectively in the rankings. As more employers have stepped away from defined benefit (DB) plans, the study also investigates the challenges and opportunities with the global shift towards defined contribution (DC) plans where individuals bear increased financial responsibility. The MCGPI...

October 14, 2022
Adequacy, Books, Books, Sustainability, System Characterization, , , ,
Read more...

September 2022
14Sep

Financial Inclusion report: 2020-2021

By UK Government Financial inclusion and financial capability continue to be priorities for us personally and for our departments. As the UK moves towards its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, being “financially included” remains of central importance throughout peoples’ financial lives, from the basic necessity of being able to open your first bank account, to accessing credit, insurance, and the right mortgage products at an affordable price, and when planning for retirement. Over the last year, we announced and delivered significant...

September 14, 2022
Books, Books, System Characterization, ,
Read more...

August 2022
26Aug

Recessions and Retirement: New Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Courtney Coile & Haiyi Zhang The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the US labor market, leading to an unprecedented loss of 22 million jobs in March and April 2020. Evidence from past recessions indicates that economic downturns are typically associated with an increase in retirements. In this study, we revisit the relationship between recessions and retirement in the COVID-19 era, using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) supplemented by other data on economic and COVID conditions. We find that higher...

August 26, 2022
Articles, Labor Market, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
11Aug

Inequality of Opportunity and Health Performance of Private Health Insurance — Empirical Evidence from China

By Rui Li, Minxue Jia & Su Yang Background: The role of private health insurance in protecting the population's health is an essential global concern. However, the for-profit nature of private health insurance has led to inequality of opportunity for coverage, which has implications for the health performance of insurance.Method: This article uses the 2018 China Urban Statistics Yearbook and cross-sectional data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) of 2015 and 2018. Based on the Heckman two-step...

August 11, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , , , ,
Read more...
05Aug

Public Wage and Pension Indexation in the Euro Area: An Overview

By Cristina D. Checherita-Westphal, João Domingues Semeano, Elena Ahonen, Pierrick Stinglhamber, Stefan Van Parys, Johannes Clemens, Katri Urke, Orsolya Soosaar, Maria Vergou, Maria Flevotomou, David Staunton, Jorge Martínez-Pagés, Aris Avgousti, Gintare Zelionkaite, Olivier Delobbe, Florian Henne, Baiba Brusbārde, John Farrugia, Juergen Attard, Fabrizio Renzi, Marco Savegnago, Doris Prammer, Lukas Reiss, Gerard Eijsink, Jip Italianer, Maria Manuel Campos, Andreja Strojan Kastelec, Barbora Palášthyová, Vratislav Pisca & Jarkko Kivistö. If the responses of wages – both private and public – and of...

August 5, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , , ,
Read more...

July 2022
28Jul

The 2022 BlackRock Read on Retirement

By BlackRock Retirement savings isn’t always an even playing field, but as an industry we can seek better outcomes. That’s why we’ve reimagined our DC Pulse survey to provide a more accurate “Read on Retirement” and what it means for more and more people. The pandemic caused people to rethink what they need for retirement, and inspired employers to offer more strategies to help employees save for the short and long-term. Yet not everyone has access to a workplace plan, and...

July 28, 2022
Books, System Characterization, , , , ,
Read more...
28Jul

In a Highly Indebted Economy: Security Issues for the Asset-based China’s Reform and the Financial System

By Tianyong Zhou Since the start of the 21st century, all major global economies have been experiencing a shift to a model of low consumption, low interest rate, low inflation, low growth and high debt. China is no exception. This article argues that in the high-indebtedness economic model, the proportion of committed and guaranteed debt service credit is decreasing, while the proportion of asset-backed credit corresponding to debt is on the rise; and with respect to currency stability, the role...

July 28, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
15Jul

Seven Economic Facts About the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap

By Kristen Broady, Darlene Booth-Bell & Taylor Griffin Using data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances and the U.S. Census Bureau, along with data and research from other sources, this paper presents seven economic facts about the racial wealth gap in the U.S. We present data on racial disparities in income, employment, homeownership, education, access to credit, and retirement savings – all factors that contribute to a significant and persistent gap in net worth between households of different races...

July 15, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
15Jul

Old Age Pensions and Social Security Today: Need to Introduce ‘Time Bank’ for the Unmet Social Needs of the Elderly in Uganda

By Kibs Boaz Muhanguzi World over, many programs have been put in place to ensure reasonable welfare and relevance of the elderly senior citizens in the community. Out of these diverse programs, pensions and social security fund, and Social Assistance Grants for the Elderly (SAGE) are common. Of recent, the introduction of time banks; a non-financial, barter system of exchange, with the aim of ensuring access to the unmet social needs of the elderly people in the community has emerged....

July 15, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...
15Jul

The Unbearable Lightness of the Reform of the Pension System

By Hans van Meerten & Sanne Vlastuin In this article, Hans van Meerten (Professor of European Pension Law at Utrecht University) and Sanne Vlastuin (Master's Student in Private Law at Utrecht University) discuss the transition to a new Dutch pension system. In particular, they pay attention to European law aspects that could be problematic in this light, including the pension participant as consumer and the information gap of pension participants. More is needed to make the envisaged pension system EU-proof...

July 15, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , ,
Read more...