May 2019

Averting the Multiemployer Pension Solvency Crisis

By Charles Blahous (Mercatus Center at George Mason University)By Mercatus Research Paper The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) multiemployer pension insurance program faces projected insolvency, driven by systemic underfunding of multiemployer pension plans. To address this brewing crisis, Congress has established a joint select committee to develop multiemployer pension reforms. Primary causes of the crisis include lax funding rules and inaccurate valuations of pension assets and liabilities. Explanations frequently offered for underfunding, such as financial market downturns...

April 2019

Inclusive Growth: The Global Challenges of Social Inequality and Financial Inclusion

By Howard Thomas, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong Inclusive growth ensures the benefits of a growing economy extend to all segments of society. Unleashing people’s economic potential starts with connecting them to the vital networks that power the modern economy. Implementing inclusive growth is a means of democratizing productivity and it is essential to reduce the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor in both developed and developing economies.   This book arose out of a research partnership between the Mastercard Center for...

March 2019

Reversing Pension Privatization

From 1981 to 2014, thirty countries fully or partially privatized their social security public mandatory pensions (figure 1). Fourteen countries were in Latin America: Chile (first to privatize in 1981), Peru (1993), Argentina and Colombia (1994), Uruguay (1996), the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Mexico and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (1997), El Salvador (1998), Nicaragua (2000), Costa Rica and Ecuador (2001), Dominican Republic (2003) and Panama (2008). Another fourteen countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union embarked...

February 2019

Intergenerational Fairness: Will Our Kids Live Better than We Do

By Parisa Mahboubi (C.D. Howe Institute) While large government deficits and debt raise concerns regarding intergenerational fairness, their longterm intergenerational impacts can significantly differ, depending on demographic shifts and future economic policy. In particular, population aging in Canada has accelerated during the past decade due to declining fertility and improving life expectancy. This demographic transition poses new fiscal challenges since it dampens growth in government revenue while putting pressure on government spending, particularly in healthcare and public pensions. Generational accounting...

The Future of Saving : The Role of Pension System Design in an Aging World

By David Amaglobeli,‎ Hua Chai,‎ Era Dabla-Norris,‎ Kamil Dybczak,‎ Mauricio Soto,‎ Alexander F. Tieman This SDN explores how demographic changes have affected and will affect public and private sector savings, highlighting the interaction between pension systems, labor markets, and demographic variables. Get the book HERE!

January 2019

Handbook of Sociology of Aging

By Richard A Settersten Jr,‎ Dr Jacqueline L Angel The Handbook of Sociology of Aging is the most comprehensive, engaging, and up-to-date treatment of developments within the field over the past 30 years. The volume represents an indispensable source of the freshest and highest standard scholarship for scholars, policy makers, and aging professionals alike. The Handbook of Sociology of Aging contains 45 far-reaching chapters, authored by nearly 80 of the most renowned experts, on the most pressing topics related to aging today. With its recurring...

The Course of Income Inequality As a Cohort Ages into Old-Age

By Thomas L. Hungerford (National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI); Independent)Several researchers have shown that income inequality of a cohort increases as the cohort ages. The various studies examining cohort income inequality use a variety of data, measures, and methods. Is the U.S. experience documented in other studies due to potential biases due to data, measures and/or methods? This study examines cohort income inequality using nationally representative longitudinal data and a variety of inequality measures to follow a large...

First report costs and past performance

By EIOPA (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) Executive Summary The report sets out aggregate data on the costs of insurance-based investment product (IBIPs) across the EU, and, to a limited extent, certain personal pension products (PPPs). The data also sets out net performance for the period between 2013-2017. It follows the European Commission request to the European Supervisory Authorities to periodically reporto on costs and past performance of retail investment products. It has been undertaken as a “pilot” exercise, reflecting an anticipated need for...

December 2018

Meeting India’s Retirement Challenge

By Richard Jackson ALTHOUGH RAPID DEVELOPMENT BRINGS GREAT BENEFITS, it also creates great challenges. Among the most critical is ensuring a measure of security for the old, who often find themselves vulnerable and marginalized as economic growth accelerates and traditional social and cultural norms are overturned. When rapid development is combined with rapid population aging, confronting the challenge becomes all the more urgent. India is one of the world’s most rapidly developing countries. Like most emerging markets, it is also progressing...

The Vulnerability of Older Australians in Bankruptcy: Insights from an Empirical Study

By Lev Bromberg (The University of Melbourne), Ian Ramsay (Melbourne Law School - University of Melbourne), Paul Ali (University of Melbourne - Law School; Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR)) This article presents the results of the first empirical study focused on older Australians in bankruptcy. Our study — based on the examination of a large and unique dataset obtained by the authors from the bankruptcy regulator — provides a valuable insight into the severe financial challenges faced by...