February 2017

04Feb

Private Pension Funds in Hungary: Early Performance and Regulatory Issues

By Dimitri Vittas The early performance of Hungary's voluntary private pension funds suggests that concerns about Hungary's ability to implement successful pension reform may be exaggerated. Despite the limited scope resulting from the high payroll taxes for the compulsory, unfunded public pillar in Hungary's pension system, the early performance of the voluntary private pension funds has been encouraging and in many respects better than expected. Investment returns have been well above the rate of inflation and participation has expanded rapidly....

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation, Supervision,
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04Feb

European System of Financial Supervision

By Thomas Papadopoulos In September 2009, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) brought forward proposals to replace the EU’s existing supervisory architecture with a European System of Financial Supervision (‘ESFS’), consisting of three European Supervisory Authorities — the European Banking Authority (‘EBA’), the European Securities and Markets Authority (‘ESMA’), and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (‘EIOPA’) (hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘ESAs’) — as well as the European Systemic Risk Board (‘ESRB’), the Joint Committee of the European...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation, Supervision,
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04Feb

Risk-Based Supervision of Pension Funds: A Review of International Experience and Preliminary Assessment of the First Outcomes

By Gregory Brunner, Richard Hinz & Roberto de Rezende Rocha This paper provides a review of the design and experience of risk-based pension fund supervision in several countries that have been leaders in the development of these methods. The utilization of risk-based methods originates primarily in the supervision of banks. In recent years it has increasingly been extended to other types of financial intermediaries including pension funds and insurers. The trend toward risk-based supervision of pensions is closely associated with...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Supervision,
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04Feb

How Behavioral Economics Trims Its Sails and Why

By Ryan Bubb & Richard Pildes The preference of behavioral law and economics (BLE) for regulatory approaches that preserve “freedom of choice” has led to incomplete policy analysis and inefficient policies. BLE has been broadly regarded as among the most promising new developments in public policymaking theory and practice. As social science, BLE offers hope that better understanding of human behavior will provide a sounder foundation for policy design. As politics, BLE offers a possible political consensus built around minimalist...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation
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04Feb

Lessons for Public Pensions from Utah’s Move to Pension Choice

By Robert L. Clark, Emma Hanson & Olivia S. Mitchell This paper explores what happened when the state of Utah moved away from its traditional defined benefit pension. Instead, it offered new hires a choice between a conventional defined contribution plan, versus a hybrid plan option having both a guaranteed benefit component and a defined contribution plan shifting investment risk to employees. We show that some 60 percent of new hires failed to make any active choice and, as a...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation, ,
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04Feb

Behavioral Portfolio Management

By Thomas Howard Behavioral Portfolio Management (BPM) is presented as a superior way to make investment decisions. Underlying BPM is the dynamic market interplay between Emotional Crowds and Behavioral Data Investors. BPM’s first Basic Principle is that Emotional Crowds dominate the determination of both prices and volatility, with fundamentals playing a small role. The second Basic Principle is that Behavioral Data Investors earn superior returns. I present the evidence supporting these first two Principles. The third Basic Principle is that...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Corporate Governance, Investing
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04Feb

Nudging: A Very Short Guide

By Cass R. Sunstein This brief essay offers a general introduction to the idea of nudging, along with a list of ten of the most important “nudges.” It also provides a short discussion of the question whether to create some kind of separate “behavioral insights unit,” capable of conducting its own research, or instead to rely on existing institutions. Full Content: SSRN

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation,
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04Feb

Workplace-Linked Pensions for an Aging Demographic

By Olivia S. Mitchell & John Piggott Pensions and population aging intersect in two ways. First, demographic change threatens the sustainability of traditional pay-as-you-go social security pensions, leaving workplace-linked pensions with a greater role in retirement provision. Second, as the Baby Boom generation enters retirement, new challenges arise around its retirement support. This chapter reviews some of the implications of population aging for workplace pensions in this new environment, outlines market considerations important for workplace-related pension design for the future,...

February 4, 2017
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, , , ,
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04Feb

Should Regulation Be Countercyclical?

By Jonathan Masur & Eric Posner Politicians and commentators have from time to time proposed that regulations be suspended or delayed during recessions because of their adverse impact on employment. We evaluate this argument from within a macroeconomic framework. We argue that a case can be made for what we call countercyclical regulation if certain empirical premises are valid; explore the ways in which such regulation might best be designed; and evaluate the legal authority of agencies to issue countercyclical...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Regulation
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04Feb

Optimal Social Security Claiming Behavior under Lump Sum Incentives: Theory and Evidence

By Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell, Ralph Rogalla & Tatjana Schimetschek People who delay claiming Social Security receive higher lifelong benefits upon retirement. We survey individuals on their willingness to delay claiming later, if they could receive a lump sum in lieu of a higher annuity payment. Using a moment-matching approach, we calibrate a lifecycle model tracking observed claiming patterns under current rules and predict optimal claiming outcomes under the lump sum approach. Our model correctly predicts that early claimers...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, ,
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