Articles Archives - Page 13 of 140 - Pension Policy International

03MayMay 3, 2024

Financial Fragility, Financial Resilience, and Pension Distributions

By Robert Clark & Olivia S. Mitchell We evaluate Americans’ financial robustness during the COVID-19 pandemic, using measures of financial resilience and financial fragility derived from U.S. surveys of persons aged 45 to 75 from 2020 to 2022. We analyze which factors were associated with resilience and fragility, discuss how these measures changed during the pandemic, and assess whether prepandemic resilience led to better outcomes during the period. Results show that stronger resilience was protective in terms of financial fragility,...

May 3, 2024

Articles, Pension design2024, Financial Literacy, Private Pensions, Retirement Planning, US

26AprApril 26, 2024

Another brick on the Wall: On the Effects of Non-Contributory Pensions on Material and Subjective Well Being

By Rosangela Bando, Sebastian Galiani & Paul Gertler Public expenditures on non-contributory pensions are equivalent to at least 1 percent of GDP in several countries in Latin America and is expected to increase. We explore the effect of non-contributory pensions on the well-being of the beneficiary population by studying the Pensiones Alimentarias program established by law in Paraguay, which targets older adults living in poverty. Households with a beneficiary increased their level of consumption by 44 percent. The program improved...

April 26, 2024

Articles, Pension design2020, Health, Latin America, Poverty, Social Protection

26AprApril 26, 2024

Economic Consequences of Pension Bailouts: Evidence from the American Rescue Plan

By Michael Dambra, Phillip J. Quinn & John Wertz Multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs) provide retirement benefits for 11 million participants, yet until recently, hundreds of these pension plans – covering 3 million participants – faced insolvency. We use the 2021 passage of the American Rescue Plan Act to examine how pension bailouts affect the management and administration of pension plans. Consistent with the ARP inducing moral hazard, we find that MEPPs increase risk taking in investment allocations, increase benefit payments,...

April 26, 2024

Articles, System Sustainability2023, Pension design, Pension Reform, Political economy, US

26AprApril 26, 2024

An Assessment of the 2019 and 2020 Pension Reforms in Mexico

By Boele Bonthuis In recent years the Mexican pension system has changed significantly. In 2019 the existing means-tested social pension was made universal – covering everyone over the age of 65 – and the benefit level increased. In 2020, the main regime of the private sector was substantially reformed, increasing contribution rates for the funded defined contribution system, lowering the minimum years of contributions needed to receive an earnings-related pension, and increasing minimum pensions. This paper tries to assess the...

April 26, 2024

Articles, System Characterization2024, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Mexico, Pension Reform

19AprApril 19, 2024

The Importance of Reviewing the Pension Scheme in Albania. Benefits and Challenges of Applying for Private Pensions in Albania

By Valbona Cinaj The pension system faces many problems and challenges. Social security in general is the system of social protection in Albania, as in other countries, is influenced by the country's economic power, labor market developments, demographic situation, employment situation and unemployment, GDP growth, macroeconomic stability, etc. These indicators will serve not only as a starting point for the analysis of the system, achievements, and problems, but also the level of these indicators will serve as a starting point...

April 19, 2024

Articles, System Characterization2024, Albania, Private Pensions, Social Protection, Social Security

19AprApril 19, 2024

Strength in Diversity: What We Can Learn from BC’s Target-benefit Plans

By Barry Gros With the significant decline in single-employer defined-benefit (DB) pension plans in the private sector, it’s important to understand other alternatives. One such alternative is the target-benefit plan. The regulation of target-benefit plans (TBPs) in all provinces across Canada can be made more straightforward and effective using lessons learned from real-life experiences. With target-benefit plans currently being more prominent in the province of British Columbia than any other province, it is useful to take a closer look at these...

April 19, 2024

Articles, Savings2024, Defined Benefit, Income, Occupational Pensions

19AprApril 19, 2024

“Safe” Annuity Retirement Products and a Possible US Retirement Crisis

By Thomas E. Lambert & Christopher B. Tobe This paper examines a looming possible crisis in many Americans’ retirement plans due to the proliferation of annuity products in their retirement investment portfolios. As defined benefit pension plans have almost completely disappeared as a means of retirement savings and have been replaced by defined contribution retirement plans over the last 40 to 50 years, a great number of private and public sector defined contribution retirement plans have become laden with insurance...

April 19, 2024

Articles, Pension design2024, Pension design, Pension Payout, US

12AprApril 12, 2024

The Race/Ethnicity Gap in Retirement Plan Participation: More than Just Demographics

By David Blanchett American companies have been actively shifting away from defined benefit (DB) plans towards defined contribution (DC) plans for decades. This shift places more burden on workers to make decisions like whether to participate in the retirement plan, how much to save, and how to invest those savings. This analysis explores how participation in a workforce retirement plan varies by race and ethnicity leveraging data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the 2023 Current Population...

April 12, 2024

Adequacy, Articles2024, Coverage, Equality, savings

12AprApril 12, 2024

Latent Cumulative Disadvantage: US Immigrants’ Reversed Economic Assimilation in Later Life

By Leafia Z Ye One of the most salient findings in research on immigration has been that immigrants experience substantial economic mobility as they accumulate more years in the host-society labor force and eventually approach earnings parity with their native-born counterparts. However, we do not know whether this progress is sustained in retirement. In this paper, I develop a framework of Latent Cumulative (Dis)advantage and hypothesize that even as immigrants are approaching parity with the native-born in terms of current...

April 12, 2024

Articles, Labor Market2024, Adequacy, Immigration, Informal Sector, US

05AprApril 5, 2024

Wealth Creators or Inheritors? Unpacking the Gender Wealth Gap from Bottom to Top and Young to Old

By Eva Sierminska, Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder There is growing interest in understanding how gender influences the accumulation of wealth. While prior studies have focused on labor-related determinants, our research focuses on inheritances and gifts. Using unique data that over samples the top 1% of wealth holders in Germany, we show that the gender wealth gap is small for individuals up to age 40, then widens, and declines for those past retirement age. Transfer amounts and their timing are...

April 5, 2024

Articles, System Characterization2024, Equality, Gender Gap, Germany, Income, Retirement Age

May 2024

Financial Fragility, Financial Resilience, and Pension Distributions

April 2024

Economic Consequences of Pension Bailouts: Evidence from the American Rescue Plan

An Assessment of the 2019 and 2020 Pension Reforms in Mexico

Strength in Diversity: What We Can Learn from BC’s Target-benefit Plans

“Safe” Annuity Retirement Products and a Possible US Retirement Crisis

The Race/Ethnicity Gap in Retirement Plan Participation: More than Just Demographics

Latent Cumulative Disadvantage: US Immigrants’ Reversed Economic Assimilation in Later Life

Wealth Creators or Inheritors? Unpacking the Gender Wealth Gap from Bottom to Top and Young to Old