May 2024

Swiss pension reform: the latest changes

These are the most important changes since January 1, 2024: – Expansion of the flexibility of pension payments – Incentives for gainful employment after 65 – Raising the retirement age (now called the reference age) for women to 65 (from January 1, 2025) On September 25, 2022, the Swiss electorate approved the reform package to stabilise the pension scheme. This aims to secure and maintain the level of old-age pensions, ensure the financial balance of the system over the next decade and meet...

April 2024

Czechs approve raising retirement age to help future budgets

The Czech government approved changes to the country's pension system on Tuesday, raising retirement ages and lowering pensions for future retirees as it aims to save the system billions of dollars per year. The reform builds in gradual shifts in the retirement age, delaying retirement by seven months for people who are now 52, compared to the current retirement age of 65, according to plans. It also lowers pensions calculated for future retirees by about 8% compared with the current...

Czech Republic. Government to debate proposed pension reform next week

The government is set to discuss proposed changes to the pension system on Tuesday. The proposal envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age linked to a higher life expectancy, a different basis for calculating old-age pensions, a lower indexation of pensions and a minimum pension amounting to 20 percent of the average wage. Most of the changes would affect people born after 1966. The present retirement age is 65 for both men and women. According to Labour Minister Marian...

Economic Consequences of Pension Bailouts: Evidence from the American Rescue Plan

By Michael Dambra, Phillip J. Quinn & John Wertz Multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs) provide retirement benefits for 11 million participants, yet until recently, hundreds of these pension plans – covering 3 million participants – faced insolvency. We use the 2021 passage of the American Rescue Plan Act to examine how pension bailouts affect the management and administration of pension plans. Consistent with the ARP inducing moral hazard, we find that MEPPs increase risk taking in investment allocations, increase benefit payments,...

An Assessment of the 2019 and 2020 Pension Reforms in Mexico

By Boele Bonthuis In recent years the Mexican pension system has changed significantly. In 2019 the existing means-tested social pension was made universal – covering everyone over the age of 65 – and the benefit level increased. In 2020, the main regime of the private sector was substantially reformed, increasing contribution rates for the funded defined contribution system, lowering the minimum years of contributions needed to receive an earnings-related pension, and increasing minimum pensions. This paper tries to assess the...

Mexican lawmakers approve new pension fund backed by president

Mexico's Senate approved the creation of a new pension fund on Thursday aimed at boosting payouts to the lowest-earning recipients. The creation of the fund, which is part of a pension reform proposed by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, won the support of 70 senators, with 43 against and two abstentions, after a heated debate that went into the evening. The reform aims to ensure that pensioners receive 100% of their last monthly salary up to about 16,777 Mexican pesos...

Mexico president eyes fresh pension fund ahead of election

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday he hopes to present a new fund aimed at boosting the lower pensions in the system on May 1, a month ahead of presidential elections. The creation of the fund, which is part of a pension reform proposed by the president in February, was approved on Monday by the country's lower house. It now needs to be passed by the Senate. "I hope that on May 1, Labor Day, we can present...

British trade unions lose appeal over $24 billion cost of pension reform

Two British trade unions on Wednesday lost an appeal over changes to public sector pensions they argued allows the government to unlawfully pass the 19-billion-pound ($23.7 billion) cost of pension reforms on to workers. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the British Medical Association (BMA) said Britain's finance ministry was effectively making members of newer pension schemes foot the bill for its own mistake. A judge at London's High Court had dismissed the two unions' case in March last year. The...

Regressivity in Public Pension Systems: The Case of Peru

By Jose Valderrama We study the role of income-mortality differentials and pension eligibility conditions on the level of regressivity and progressivity of Peru’s public pension system, using administrative records from 1999 to 2018 to do so. We consider the joint effect of insufficient contributions, by which the poorest contribute to the pension system butultimately do not qualify for pensions because of insufficient contributions, and differing mortality by socioeconomic status in contributing to regressivity of the system. We find that the...

March 2024

Older Workers, Pension Reforms and Firm Outcomes

By Francesca Carta, Francesco D’Amuri & Till Von Wachter Using Italian matched worker-firm data, this paper quantifies the effect of an exogenous increase in older workers driven by an unexpected raise in statutory retirement ages on medium and large firms' input mix and economic outcomes. Data on lifetime pension contributions are used to calculate the expected additional number of older workers retained by each firm due to the pension reform. Instrumental variable estimates show an increase in older workers leads...