April 2017

24Apr

Disarming Puerto Rico’s Pension Time Bomb

By Richard J. Cooper, Luke A. Barefoot, Daniel J Soltman & Antonio Pietrantoni (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP) With the long-delayed commencement of negotiations between the new government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (the “Commonwealth”) and its financial creditors finally underway, and the expiration of the existing stay on creditor actions looming, much of the financial press’ attention over the next several weeks will undoubtedly be focused on whether the government of Puerto Rico can reach an out...

April 24, 2017
Articles, Regulation, System Sustainability
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24Apr

Retirement Security: The Importance of Conflict-Safe Advice

By Andrew L. Oringer (Dechert LLP) This article is adapted from testimony given by Andrew L. Oringer on March 24, 2009 before the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The testimony was given during the Subcommittee's hearings on the regulations of the US Department of Labor regarding exemptions for certain investment advice. (more…)

April 24, 2017
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability, ,
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14Apr

Pension Reform: Is There a Tradeoff between Efficiency and Equity?

By Estelle James In the past decade, Latin America has taken the lead in structural pension reform which replaces a publicly managed pay-as-you-go defined-benefit system with a system of privately managed, fully funded defined-contribution accounts supplemented by a social safety net This arrangement is designed to improve efficiency and growth, and preliminary evidence suggest that it has been successful in doing so. But traditional social security systems have been justified on the grounds that they are equitable and redistribute to...

April 14, 2017
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability, ,
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March 2017

27Mar

Towards an Equitable and Sustainable Points System: A Proposal for Pension Reform in Belgium

By Erik Schokkaert (Catholic University of Leuven), Pierre Devolder (Catholic University of Louvain), Jean Hindriks (University of London) & Frank Vandenbroucke (University of Amsterdam) We describe the points system that has been proposed by the Belgian Commission for Pension Reform 2020-2040. Intragenerational equity can be realised in a flexible and transparent way through the allocation of points within a cohort. The intergenerational distribution is determined by fixing the value of a point for the newly retired and a sustainability parameter...

March 27, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, System Sustainability, , , ,
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26Mar

Pensions and Sovereign Default

By Sean Myers (Stanford University) This paper studies the effect of public pension obligations on a government's decision to default. In the model, the government can renege on its pension promises but suffers a cost from losing the trust of households about future pensions. Large pension promises act as a commitment device for debt because they require the government to have regular access to credit markets. The government's decision to default is driven by its total obligations, not just its...

March 26, 2017
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23Mar

Beyond the Privatisation and Re-Nationalisation of the Argentine Pension System: Coverage, Fragmentation, and Sustainability

By Fabio Bertranou & Luis Casanova (International Labour Organization);  Oscar Cetrángolo & Carlos Grushka (University of Buenos Aires) In the last decades, the pension system in Argentina has experienced important changes that included the introduction of an individual account defined-contribution component (or individual capitalisation) in 1994 and its subsequent reversal to a defined benefit pay-as-you-go pension scheme in 2008. After the 2001 crisis, the favourable fiscal position allowed the implementation of policies that reversed the decline in pension coverage to unprecedented...

March 23, 2017
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17Mar

Widowhood and Retirement Timing: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

By Philipp Schreiber (University of Mannheim) The combination of an increasing life expectancy, low fertility rates, and an early effective retirement age creates pressure to act for Governments and organizations. The pay-as-you-go social security systems of many countries are troubled by the increasing ratio of retirees to working people. In addition, many organizations face difficulties caused by a shrinking workforce and the accompanied shortage of skilled workers. To counteract, it is essential to create an environment in which older workers...

March 17, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, System Sustainability, ,
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08Mar

Automatic Adjustment Mechanisms in Asian Pension Systems?

By Elif C. Arbatli, Csaba Feher, Jack Ree, Ikuo Saito & Mauricio Soto (International Monetary Fund) Automatic adjustment mechanisms (AAMs)-rules ensuring that certain characteristics of a pension system respond to demographic, macroeconomic and financial developments, in a predetermined fashion and without the need for additional intervention-have been introduced in many OECD countries to tackle public pension schemes' deteriorating financial sustainability. Incorporating AAMs-in particular linking retirement age to life expectancy-can be an important part of pension reforms in Asia. If implemented...

March 8, 2017
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability, ,
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08Mar

Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection in Peru

As part of its Global Policy Initiative, CGAP partnered with the Superintendence of Banks, Insurance and AFPs of Peru in late 2008, with the purpose of enhancing the understanding of the issues and trends in consumer relations when financial services are delivered through branchless banking, particularly through agents, which are used in ever increasing scale in Peru. The product was this joint report. The Superintendence and CGAP coordinated closely on data and information gathering, as well as on writing this...

March 8, 2017
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February 2017

23Feb

Rethinking Pension Reform (English Edition)

By Franco Modigliani & Arun Muralidhar This book, first published in 2004, presents an academic and a practical aspect on managing pension funds to clarify the global debate on social security. The authors establish the basic choices in designating any system to help policy makers develop the system that achieves their many objectives. They examine reforms in Latin America to highlight flaws and to estimate the true cost of these reforms and factors affecting these costs. The authors then...

February 23, 2017
Books, Books, Pension design, Regulation, System Sustainability
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