January 2020

08Jan

Germany needs 500,000 new immigrants every year

Germany is grappling with a ticking demographic time bomb. The Local spoke with FDP politician Christian Dürr who says immigration is the key to the country's future. As a society, we are living longer – and that's a good thing. But there is a lot of debate over how to stop Germany's welfare system buckling under the pressure of an ageing population. The Local spoke with Christian Dürr, deputy chairman of the pro-business Free Democrats' (FDP) parliamentary group, who recently wrote a guest...

January 8, 2020
News, Slider, ,
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February 2017

03Feb

Micro-pensions in India: Issues and challenges

By Savita Shankar & Mukul G. Asher This article aims to fill a gap in the social security literature on India by examining the role of micro-pensions. The analysis suggests that because of the heterogeneity of the target population, micro-pension products — with microfinance institutions (MFIs) as the main, but not only sponsors — should be voluntary and portable and permit experimentation in their design and in the delivery of services. Accordingly, decentralized micro-pension schemes that operate within an appropriate...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension design,
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03Feb

Taxing Pensions

By Pierre Pestieau and Helmuth Cremer There exists a wide variety of tax treatments of pensions across the world. And the reasons for such a range of regimes are not clear. This note reviews the general principles of pension taxes and analyses the theoretical foundations of why pension incomes ought to be taxed specifically. To do this, one has to distinguish between public and private pensions. The design of public pensions cannot be separated from the one of taxation. Regarding...

February 3, 2017
Regulation,
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03Feb

Pensions as a Form of Executive Compensation

By Lisa Goh and Yong Li This paper investigates the role of pensions as an element of total executive compensation, and the relationship between pensions and performance-based compensation in executive pay. Using hand-collected data on FTSE 100 CEOs and senior executives from 2004−2011, we document that pensions function as a substitute for performance-based com-pensation (primarily bonuses) in both cross-sectional and time-series settings. We also examine the effect of corporate governance characteristics on executive pensions. We find that corporate governance characteristics...

February 3, 2017
Labor Market,
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03Feb

The Greek Pension Reform Strategy 2010–2015

By Georgios Symeonidis In 2010, Greece, under the pressure of an increasing public debt, was forced to resort to the Troika, which is the designation of the triumvirate which comprises the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Troika agreed to provide Greece with financial help, on special terms recorded in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Greek Government and the Troika. One of the most important reforms that are recorded...

February 3, 2017
Regulation,
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03Feb

Outcome Based Assessments for Private Pensions : A Handbook

By William Price, John Ashcroft and Michael Hafeman This report illustrates a new methodology to develop an Outcomes and Risk Based Supervision (ORBS) framework for funded pensions with a case study of Costa Rica. The approach was used in a FIRST funded project in Costa Rica with the regulator and supervisor of pensions SUPEN. The intention is to highlight an approach that may be useful in the region, and globally, to help agencies responsible for private pensions to focus on...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, System Sustainability
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03Feb

Pensions for Public-Sector Employees : Lessons from OECD Countries’ Experience

By Edward Whitehouse In 27 out of 34 OECD member countries, there is institutionally separate retirement-income provision for some or all public-sector workers. But the scope of these pension schemes varies significantly: from a modest top-up to the national pension arrangements (covering private-sector workers as well) to entirely independent retirement-income regimes. Average expenditure on these schemes amounts to about 1.5 percent of GDP, or nearly a quarter of total public pension spending. Public-sector pension reform is an issue of great...

February 3, 2017
Pension design, Regulation,
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03Feb

Derechos sociales y prohibición de regresividad: el caso issste y su voto de minoría

By Fernando Silva y Emmanuel Rosales Tanto la doctrina académica como la jurisprudencial han reconocido la prohibición de regresividad de los derechos sociales. En términos muy generales, dicha norma "constitucional" implica que las leyes no deben empeorar la situación de regulación del derecho vigente, desde el punto de vista del alcance y amplitud del goce de los derechos sociales. En todo caso, la regresividad de una norma legal en materia de seguridad social determina una presunción de invalidez o de...

February 3, 2017
Artículos, Noticias, Spanish
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