February 2017

Retirement delay unified or differentiated: based on the interaction between pension deficit and labor market

By Zou Tieding & Ye Hang The pension deficit has been rapidly enlarging for more than a decade. If the retirement age is set at a low level, it might trigger a pensions crisis. Since the average life span of the Chinese has extended from 71 to 76 years old in last ten years, the feasibility of rising the retirement age has also been promoted. Methods: This paper aims to construct a mathematical model for choosing a proper policy about...

How does pension eligibility affect labor supply in couples?

By Rafael Lalive & Parrotta Pierpaolo Many OECD countries are reforming their pension systems. We investigate how pension eligibility affects labor supply in couples. Inspired by a theoretical framework, we measure how the sharp change in the pension eligibility of both partners affects labor force participation. We find that both partners leave the labor force as they become eligible for a pension. The effect of their own pension eligibility is 12 percentage points for women and 28 percentage points for...

Stress Tests for Defined Benefit Pension Plans: A Primer

By Gregorio Impavido Stress testing is a useful and increasingly popular, yet sometimes misunderstood, method of analyzing the resilience of financial systems to adverse events. This paper aims to help demystify stress tests and illustrate their strengths and weaknesses. Using an Excel-based template with institution-specific data, readers are walked through the basics of liability valuation and stress testing of assets and liabilities of a typical defined benefit plan. Full Content: EconBiz

Reforming retirement age in DB and DC pension systems in an aging OLG economy with heterogenous agents

By Joanna Tyrowicz, Krzysztof Makarski and Marcin Bielecki We analyze the effects of increasing the retirement age in two economies with overlapping generations and within cohort ex ante heterogeneity. The first economy has a defined benefit system, and the second economy is in transition from a defined benefit to a defined contribution. We find that if increase in the retirement age is phased in a way that allows agents to adjust, welfare is not reduced and welfare effects have a...

Redesigning pension systems: the institutional structure of pension systems should follow population developments

By Marek Gora For decades, pension systems were based on the rising revenue generated by an expanding population (demographic dividend). As changes in fertility and longevity created new population structures, however, the dividend disappeared, but pension systems failed to adapt. They are kept solvent by increasing redistributions from the shrinking working-age population to retirees. A simple and transparent structure and individualization of pension system participation are the key preconditions for an intergenerationally just old-age security system. Full Content: EconBiz