August 2019
03Aug

Informality and the Challenge of Pension Adequacy: Outlook and Reform Options for Peru

By Christoph Freudenberg, Frederik Toscani Past reforms have put the Peruvian pension system on a largely fiscally sustainable path, but the system faces important challenges in providing adequate pension levels for a large share of the population. Using administrative microdata at the affiliate level, we project replacement rates in the defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pillars over the next 30 years and simulate the impact of various reform scenarios on the average level and distribution of pensions. In...

August 3, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, , ,
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July 2019

05Jul

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

By Melinda Gates “In her book, Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention—from child marriage to gender inequity in the workplace.” — President Barack Obama “The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what’s possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable,...

July 5, 2019
Adequacy, Books, Labor Market,
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June 2019

28Jun

Switching Costs and Competition in Retirement Investment

By Fernando Luco How do different switching costs affect choices and competition in a private pension system? I answer this question in a setting in which variation in employment status allows me to identify two switching costs that jointly affect enrollees’ decisions: the cost of evaluating financial information and the cost of the bureaucratic process that enrollees must navigate when switching. I use this variation to estimate the different switching costs and study their impact on competition among pension...

June 28, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Investing, System Sustainability,
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21Jun

Retirement Security: Women Face Challenges in Ensuring Financial Security in Retirement

By U.S. Government Accountability Office Women aged 65 and over will account for a growing segment of the U.S. population over the next several decades. Despite increases in women's workforce behavior in the past 65 years, elderly women have persistently high rates of poverty. Thus, it is important to understand the differences between men's and women's retirement income, and how women may fare given future reforms to Social Security and pensions. GAO was asked to examine (1) how...

June 21, 2019
Adequacy, Books, Pension design, ,
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21Jun

Annuity Pricing in Public Pension Plans: Importance of Interest Rates

By Nino Abashidze, Robert L. Clark, Beth Ritter, David Vanderweide There is little systematic information on the distribution options in public sector retirement plans and how annuity options are priced relative to the standard single life annuity. This study examines the distribution options of 85 large public retirement plans covering general state employees, teachers, and local government employees. An important component of the analysis is the construction of a data set presenting the annuity options offered by each of...

June 21, 2019
Adequacy, Aging, Articles, Savings, ,
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14Jun

The Great Pension Debate: Finding Common Ground

By Robert L Brown, Stephen Eadie In the never-ending debate about finding an optimal pension model, many proponents start the discussion at extreme ends of the pension model paradigm. At one extreme is a traditional, fully guaranteed defined-benefit (DB) pension plan. In this plan, all of the risks are born by the plan sponsor given that plans are fully funded. While such plans are growing rare today that is the starting point for many in this debate. At the...

June 14, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Pension design, Slider-Left, , ,
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May 2019

24May

Will the Financial Fragility of Retirees Increase?

By Steven A. Sass Retirees have long been considered financially fragile. The notion that they are ill-equipped to absorb financial shocks is captured in the traditional trope that they live on fixed incomes. Going forward, retirees will get much less income from fixed Social Security and employer pensions, and much more from savings in 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). These savings give retirees greater flexibility to respond to shocks. But tapping into their nest eggs comes at...

May 24, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, , , , ,
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04May

Averting the Multiemployer Pension Solvency Crisis

By Charles Blahous (Mercatus Center at George Mason University)By Mercatus Research Paper The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) multiemployer pension insurance program faces projected insolvency, driven by systemic underfunding of multiemployer pension plans. To address this brewing crisis, Congress has established a joint select committee to develop multiemployer pension reforms. Primary causes of the crisis include lax funding rules and inaccurate valuations of pension assets and liabilities. Explanations frequently offered for underfunding, such as financial market downturns...

May 4, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, System Sustainability, ,
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April 2019

29Apr

Social Security Coverage Around the World: The Case of China and Mexico

By Francisco Perez‐Arce (Åbo Akademi University - Economics & Statistics), María Prados (University of Southern California), Erik Meijer (University of Southern California; RAND Corporation), Jinkook Lee (University of Southern California - Center for Economic & Social Research; Program on Global Aging, Health & Policy, Center for Economic & Social Research; RAND Corporation) We describe the current state and recent trends in the landscape of social security programs in China, Mexico, and India. A common thread across these countries is the...

April 29, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Slider-Left, Sustainability, , , ,
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February 2019

17Feb

Intergenerational Fairness: Will Our Kids Live Better than We Do

By Parisa Mahboubi (C.D. Howe Institute) While large government deficits and debt raise concerns regarding intergenerational fairness, their longterm intergenerational impacts can significantly differ, depending on demographic shifts and future economic policy. In particular, population aging in Canada has accelerated during the past decade due to declining fertility and improving life expectancy. This demographic transition poses new fiscal challenges since it dampens growth in government revenue while putting pressure on government spending, particularly in healthcare and public pensions. Generational accounting...

February 17, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, Savings, , ,
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