February 2026
23Feb

Nigeria. Ogun introduces fresh pension benefit to boost CPS confidence

The Ogun State Government has introduced an Additional Pension Benefit (APB) to address stakeholder concerns following the full implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in the state. Approved by Governor Dapo Abiodun, the initiative was announced after consultative meetings with organised labour, the State and Local Government Pension Administration Committees, and the Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, Dapo Okubadejo. The CPS became fully operational in Ogun State on July 2, 2025. The APB is a one-off payment at retirement designed to...

February 23, 2026
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20Feb

Retirement Under Policy Uncertainty

By Piera Bello, Vincenzo Galasso & Alessandro Izzo This paper examines how policy uncertainty influences retirement decisions. We develop a simple model in which individuals face a one-time choice between immediate retirement and continued employment until the statutory retirement age. In the absence of policy uncertainty, retirement decisions depend solely on the standard income–leisure trade-off. When future pension reforms are uncertain, however, individuals also take into account the perceived risk of increases in the retirement age or reductions in benefit...

February 20, 2026
Articles, Pension design, , ,
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16Feb

What Trump’s Australian-style retirement program would look like in the US

Although pensions have largely disappeared thanks to tax code changes in the 1970s, today individuals have more options than ever to save for retirement with a variety of IRA and employer-sponsored plans to choose from. But Americans may soon have another account option for to retirement savings. In early December, CNN reported that President Donald Trump's administration is considering implementing an Australian-style retirement program in the U.S. Put simply, an Australian-type retirement program comprises an employer-sponsored retirement plan, which in Australia is commonly known...

February 16, 2026
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January 2026
16Jan

How our fear of aging is speeding it up

After I turned 60 last October, I became consumed with thoughts of mortality. I worried that I was now on a fast track toward ill health, retirement blues and forgetful conversations filled with non-sequiturs. It’s not hard to see why. In 2023, the American Psychological Association wrote that “ageism is one of the last socially acceptable prejudices” in American culture. From shelves lined with anti-aging products, to punchlines about getting older to workplace bias, the message is clear: entering...

January 16, 2026
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15Jan

Without pension reform, China is leaving its rural elderly out in the cold

“Rural heating problems in Hebei cannot wait any longer” declared a recent report in Farmers’ Daily. It described a disturbing reality in parts of northern China: elderly villagers who would rather shiver through freezing temperatures than turn on their heaters, because they simply cannot afford the cost. For many urban readers, this may sound implausible. For millions of rural elderly, it is routine. On the surface, the problem appears to be a side effect of China’s well-intentioned environmental reforms. Beginning...

January 15, 2026
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12Jan

Nigeria. Driving growth with recapitalisation

With macroeconomic headwinds still blowing, regulatory shakeups underway, and citizens demanding more value for their trust, Omobola Tolu-Kusimo writes on whether 2026 could be the year these industries either break new ground or stay stuck in the cycle of unrealized potential. The year 2025 ended with increased premiums, improved regulatory oversight, and renewed investor interest following NAICOM’s enforcement of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act, 2025 (NIIRA 2025).reforms and recapitalisation efforts. However, insurance penetration remains below 1per cent, a stubborn reminder...

January 12, 2026
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07Jan

Ghana. President Mahama pledges to review Single Spine Salary Structure and pensions

President John Dramani Mahama has pledged to carry out a review of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and pensions, as part of government efforts to address concerns of public sector workers. The President made the promise in his address at the opening of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) 54th National Delegates Congress and Seventh Quadrennial Conference in Accra, on the theme, “Education and Development: The Ghana Education Service (GES) at 50: Reflecting, Reviewing, Revising, and Growing the Profession and...

January 7, 2026
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06Jan

2026 marks beginning of ‘decade of pensions transformation’

UK pension schemes enter 2026 in a robust position with strong funding levels, but the year ahead is expected to mark the start of significant structural change for the system, Penfold has stated. The digital pensions provider noted that defined benefit (DB) pension schemes were collectively running an estimated £223bn surplus, with assets exceeding long-term liabilities by around 24-25 per cent. Meanwhile, defined contribution (DC) assets under management have continued to grow, reaching around £650bn - an increase of roughly 40...

January 6, 2026
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December 2025
19Dec

Comparing Socialist Approaches: Economics and Social Security in Cuba, China, and Vietnam

By Carmelo Mesa-Lago In Comparing Socialist Approaches, Carmelo Mesa-Lago examines the two main socialist models across Cuba, China, and Vietnam to compare central planning and socialist markets. Under the Cuban central plan, large state enterprises have been unable to generate economic growth, even with mild structural market reforms and a small controlled private sector. In the Sino-Vietnamese model of a socialist marketplace, dynamic private enterprises of all sizes, together with large state enterprises, operate under a decentralized plan with state regulation and...

December 19, 2025
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19Dec

Social Security Reforms and Inequality among Older Workers in Spain

By Cristina Bellés-Obrero, Manuel Flores, Pilar Garcia-Gomez, Sergi Jimenez-Martin & Judit Vall Castelló This chapter studies social security reforms and trends in inequalities among older workers over the last decades in Spain. Its main goal is to analyze the redistributive impact of the various pension reforms on older income inequality. Compared to the rules in 1985, recent pension reforms have led to an average increase on Social Security Wealth of approximately 18,000€ for men and 15,000€ for women. This represents...

December 19, 2025
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