May 2021
11May

US. Public pensions won’t earn as much from investments in the future. Here’s why that matters

State pension systems dropped the rate of return they assume for their investment portfolios again, continuing a two-decade long trend that public-finance experts say is necessary, even as it presents some challenges for the entities that participate in such plans. The median assumed return in 2021 is 7.20%, according to a report published early in May by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, down roughly 1 percentage point since 2000, as the investment managers charged with managing trillions of...

May 11, 2021
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10May

Average Czech pension crosses 15,000 crowns per month

The average pension for senior citizens in the Czech Republic crossed 15,000 crowns for the first time this year, reveal stats from the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ). The CSSZ paid out an average of 15,351 crowns monthly to retirees by the end of the first quarter. In a year-on-year comparison, CSSZ expenditures grew while the total number of allocated old-age pensions dropped, largely due to effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Czech pensions rose in January 2021, increasing by an average...

May 10, 2021
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10May

Philippines. DOF backs planned overhaul of military pension system

The Department of Finance (DOF) will rally support this year for the passage of proposed reforms in the pension system of the military and uniformed personnel (MUP). Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has directed the department’s Strategy, Economic and Results Group (SERG), led by Finance Assistant Secretary Juvy Danofrata, to assist the Treasury in gathering support from stakeholders and lawmakers for the revamp of the MUP pension system. “This year, Secretary Dominguez directed SERG to assist the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr)...

May 10, 2021
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06May

A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Fiscal Policy Under Economic Growth From the Perspective of MMT

By Yasuhito Tanaka We present a game-theoretic analysis of fiscal policy under economic growth from the perspective of MMT using a simple two-periods overlapping generations (OLG) model with pay-as-you-go pensions. We show the following results. 1) Sustained budget deficit is necessary to maintain full-employment under economic growth driven by population growth or technological progress. 2) An excessive budget deficit triggers inflation, and after one period inflation full-employment is maintained by sustained budget deficit with constant price. 3) Insufficient government deficit...

May 6, 2021
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06May

Almost half of Swiss workers choose early retirement

On Tuesday, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported External linkthat in 2019 between 40-50% of people started receiving their pension from their so-called second pillar before the legal retirement age - 65 for men and 64 for women. Men tend to make this choice more than women – 46% compared to 40%, respectively. The Swiss pension system is complex, and is based on three so-called pillars: old-age and survivors’ insurance (known as the AVS), occupational pension planning (often referred to as...

May 6, 2021
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April 2021
19Apr

Ireland. Government in bid to resolve pensions dispute in community employment sector

The Government is set to table new proposals to resolve a long -running dispute over access to pensions for hundreds of community employment scheme supervisors. Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys informed Government politicians that they had agreed on measures to deal with the issue. They told Government TDs and senators on Saturday that the Department of Social Protection would provide details to trade unions in the coming days. The proposal is expected to involve...

April 19, 2021
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08Apr

Pension systems in east Africa a deep dive

By World Bank Group Although the populations of the countries in East Africa are still young, there is a growing awareness among policy makers that they too will face the interlocking challenges of demographics and urbanization. The lesson learned from other regions is that policies need to be put in place now to ensure that pension systems are robust and affordable. So too, pension savings should be used to fund economic growth and development. Otherwise, we risk the fate of...

April 8, 2021
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March 2021
25Mar

Public Pensions and Private Savings

By Esteban García-Miralles, Jonathan Leganza How does the provision of public pension benefits impact private savings? We answer this question in the context of a reform in Denmark that altered old-age benefit payouts through a discontinuous increase in pension eligibility ages contingent on birthdate. Using detailed administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, we identify the causal effects of the policy, leveraging our setting to study essentially the entire financial portfolio. We document responses over two distinct time horizons. First,...

March 25, 2021
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25Mar

Do public pensions matter to marriage? Evidence from China

By Hua Chen, Zining Liu, Xiaoxu Yang This article examines the role of public pensions on the marriage market based on China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Firstly, we investigate if the extensive margin of public pensions, i.e., whether to participate in public pensions or not, has a significant effect through Difference-in-Difference (DID). The results indicate that public pensions have a significant effect on marriage for both urban and rural residents, and the gender and income heterogeneity of the...

March 25, 2021
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12Mar

China. Power or Profits: Beijing’s Pension Dilemma

When it comes to China’s economy, the sexy issue is the annual growth target for gross domestic product or carbon emissions or corporate debt defaults or the property market. But only one topic is really important for the longer-term survival of the Communist Party regime: pensions. And the party seems to know it. Read also India. NPS Scheme: PFRDA empowers National Pension System subscribers by offering this facility – Check benefits That’s why pension reform popped up, albeit in attenuated form,...

March 12, 2021
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