July 2018

The Taxation of Pensions

By Robert Holzmann & John Piggott Theoretical and policy perspectives on the taxation of pension, viewed in an international context.Policy makers and academic researchers have been preoccupied in recent decades with the design of pension schemes and effective pension system reform. Relatively little attention has been given to the taxation of pensions and, more broadly, the provision of retirement income. In this book, experts from a range of countries explore the interconnection. Their contributions are especially timely, given recent demographic...

Aging in America: A Cultural History

By Lawrence R Samuel Aging is a preoccupation shared by beauty bloggers, serious journalists, scientists, doctors, celebrities--arguably all of adult America, given the pervasiveness of the crusade against it in popular culture and the media. We take our youth-oriented culture as a given but, as Lawrence R. Samuel argues, this was not always the case. Old age was revered in early America, in part because it was so rare. Indeed, it was not until the 1960s, according to Samuel, that...

The Role Of The Chilean CCR In Private Equity

The Chilean pension fund system has breached in 2018 the 200bn threshold. Its pension fund system – Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones – traditionally already very open to investment overseas, has now the potential to increase exponentially the exposure to overseas alternative investments. A recent reform affecting the pension system allows in fact Chilean pension funds now to directly invest as well as co-invest in foreign private equity funds. The Chilean pension regulator - Superintendencia de Pensiones - issued in November 2017 a regulation...

Policy-Making at the European Periphery: The Case of Croatia

By Zdravko Petak,‎ Kristijan Kotarski This book examines Croatia's economic and political transformation over the last 30 years. It brings together the best political scientists, macroeconomists and public finance experts from Croatia to provide an in-depth analysis of the Croatian policy-making context and the impact of Europeanization upon its domestic institutional framework. The second part of the book scrutinizes the political economy context and Croatia's long-term macroeconomic under-performance, especially in comparison to other transition economies. The final part explores sectoral...

Financial stability implications of a prolonged period of low interest rates

From  Committee on the Global Financial System The decade following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) has been marked by historically low interest rates. An environment characterised by "low-for-long" interest rates may dampen the profitability and strength of financial firms and thus become a source of vulnerability for the financial system. In addition, low rates could change firms' incentives to take risks, which could engender additional financial sector vulnerabilities. This report identifies and provides evidence for the channels through which a "low-for-long"...

June 2018

Nigeria and the Development Quagmire: Prospects of Development through Agriculture, Food Security and Agro-Based Industrialization

By Tesky Timothy Agoben (University of Lagos, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology ; Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo) This paper focused on ‘The Prospects of Nigeria’s Development through Agriculture, National Food Security and Agro-Based Industrialization’. To effectively examined how these areas of the agricultural sector can serve as prospects for Nigeria’s development, the role of agriculture in a country’s development were highlighted and it was found out from previous agricultural and developmental journals that, agriculture has the potentials to...

Questioning Market Aversion in Gender Equality Strategies: Designing Legal Mechanisms for the Promotion of Gender Equality in the Family and the Market

By Hila Shamir (Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law),Tsilly Dagan (Bar Ilan University) & Ayelet Carmeli (Tel Aviv University) Post-industrial economies are at a crossroad. On the one hand countries are dealing with the crisis of unemployment and underemployment, developing strategies to increase labor market participation of all adults, and increase productivity. On the other hand, the same countries are responding to demographic concerns regarding an aging population and decreased birth ratios. These concerns, coupled with a growing...

The Effects of Means-Tested, Noncontributory Pensions on Poverty and Well-Being: Evidence from the Chilean Pension Reforms

By Italo Garcia (RAND Corporation) & Andres Otero (Independent) Chile initiated in 1981 a privately managed, individual-account pension system that inspired similar reforms in many Latin American countries, and that has been considered as a possible model for Social Security in the United States. After 30 years in place, the Chilean pension system has been criticized for replicating existing inequalities in labor markets and increasing the risk of old-age poverty; for achieving lower levels of coverage; and for providing low...

Pension Markets in Focus

OECD Recent years have witnessed intense pension reform efforts in countries around the globe, often involving an increased use of funded pension programmes managed by the private sector. These funded arrangements are likely to play an increasingly important role in delivering retirement income in many countries and privately managed pension assets will play an increasing role in financial markets, notably as a source of long-term savings. This annual report, which now covers 85 countries, gives an overview of private pension systems worldwide and...

Why Are People Working Longer In The Netherlands?

By Adriaan Kalwij, Arie Kapteyn, Klaas de Vos Labor force participation at older ages has been rising in the Netherlands since the mid-nineteen-nineties. Reforms of the social security and pension systems have often been put forward as main explanations for this rise. However, participation rates above the normal retirement age of 65 have almost tripled for men and quadrupled for women despite the fact that at those ages reforms are unlikely to have had much impact. This suggests other factors...