November 2020

US. 5 Ways President Biden May Make Lasting Changes To Retirement

While President-elect Biden and a nation wait for President Trump to concede the election, focus turns to how a Biden administration will lead. Biden has put forth many policy initiatives, including significant changes to retirement savings and Social Security. His ability to implement his vision depends in large part on Georgia. Two Senate races are headed to run-off elections in January. It seems likely that at least one race will go to a Republican, giving the GOP a razor-thin...

October 2020

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Micro-Estimation

By Jonathan Gruber, David A. Wise Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World represents the second stage of an ongoing research project studying the relationship between social security and labor. In the first volume, Jonathan Gruber and David A. Wise revealed enormous disincentives to continued work at older ages in developed countries. Provisions of many social security programs typically encourage retirement by reducing pay for work, inducing older employees to leave the labor force early and magnifying the...

February 2020

Japan’s Public Sector Balance Sheet

By Yugo Koshima This paper compiles and reviews the evolution of Japan's Public Sector Balance Sheet (PSBS). In the past, large crossholdings of assets and liabilities within the public sector played a role in sustaining a high level of public debt and low interest rates. The Fiscal Investment and Loan Fund (FILF) channeled all postal deposits and pension savings to financing of public sector borrowing. After the FILF refrom in 2000, however, the Post Bank and pension funds shifted their...

December 2019

UK. How Boris Johnson’s election win will affect your pension

The Conservatives’ decisive election victory should give the next UK government a better chance of passing new laws to tackle difficult domestic issues. Many pressing issues have been put on the backburner since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. Not only has Brexit dominated much parliamentary debate—which may continue—but also weak or non-existent majorities have made passing any legislation harder. One issue the Conservatives could move to address is pension reform, which featured little in the campaign but could...

November 2019

The People’s Money: Pensions, Debt, and Government Services;Urban Agenda

By Michael A Pagano American cities continue to experience profound fiscal crises. Falling revenues cannot keep pace with the increased costs of vital public services, infrastructure development and improvement, and adequately funded pensions. Chicago presents an especially vivid example of these issues, as the state of Illinois's rocky fiscal condition compounds the city's daunting budget challenges. In The People's Money, Michael A. Pagano curates a group of essays that emerged from discussions at the 2018 UIC Urban Forum. The...

October 2019

How Pinochet’s economic model led to the current crisis engulfing Chile

After 12 days of mass demonstrations, rioting and human rights violations, the government of President Sebastián Piñera must now find a way out of the crisis that has engulfed Chile. Analysts have correctly interpreted the wave of protests as a reflection of discontent with the material, political and social inequalities engendered by the economic model imposed by the country’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet. That model deregulated markets and privatised social security systems, and was widely emulated by other countries...

Chile’s Pinera announces price cuts, new wage after protests

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera has announced new measures aimed at resolving one of the country's worst political crises in years following weeks of protests. In a televised speech on Tuesday, Pinera promised an immediate 20 percent increase in government-subsidised pensions, a guaranteed monthly wage of $480, cheaper medicines for the poor and stabilised electricity costs. He also announced a new tax bracket of 40 percent for those earning more than $11,000 a month, as well as potential wage cuts...

January 2019

China’s High Savings: Drivers, Prospects, and Policies

By Longmei Zhang (International Monetary Fund), Ray Brooks (International Monetary Fund   - Asia and Pacific Department), Ding Ding (International Monetary Fund), Haiyan Ding (International Monetary Fund), Hui He (International Monetary Fund), Jing Lu (International Monetary Fund), Rui Mano (International Monetary Fund) China's high national savings rate-one of the highest in the world-is at the heart of its external/internal imbalances. High savings finance elevated investment when held domestically, or lead to large external imbalances when they flow abroad. Today, high savings mostly emanate from...

China's High Savings: Drivers, Prospects, and Policies

By Longmei Zhang (International Monetary Fund), Ray Brooks (International Monetary Fund   - Asia and Pacific Department), Ding Ding (International Monetary Fund), Haiyan Ding (International Monetary Fund), Hui He (International Monetary Fund), Jing Lu (International Monetary Fund), Rui Mano (International Monetary Fund) China's high national savings rate-one of the highest in the world-is at the heart of its external/internal imbalances. High savings finance elevated investment when held domestically, or lead to large external imbalances when they flow abroad. Today, high savings mostly emanate from...

Systems Analysis in Public Policy: A Critique

By Ida R Hoos Systems analysis, which is also called cost/benefit analysis, the planning-programming-budgeting system, risk analysis, and technology assessment, has become the major planning and policy tool of government at all levels. Indeed, it is still gathering momentum in addressing the uncertainties associated with everything from the safety of nuclear energy to the effects of microelectronics. Examining this phenomenon critically, Ida R. Hoos reviews systems analytic techniques in their own circumscribed, simulated world and in the real one, drawing...