February 2017

03Feb

Non-contributory pensions

By Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler & Rosangela Bando The creation of non-contributory pension schemes is becoming increasingly common as countries struggle to reduce poverty. Drawing on data from Mexico's Adultos Mayores Program (Older Adults Program) - a cash transfer scheme aimed at rural adults over 70 years of age - we evaluate the effects of this program on the well-being of the beneficiary population. Exploiting a quasi-experimental design whereby the program relies on exogenous geographical and age cutoffs to identify...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Labor Market, News
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03Feb

Pensions as a Form of Executive Compensation

By Lisa Goh and Yong Li This paper investigates the role of pensions as an element of total executive compensation, and the relationship between pensions and performance-based compensation in executive pay. Using hand-collected data on FTSE 100 CEOs and senior executives from 2004−2011, we document that pensions function as a substitute for performance-based com-pensation (primarily bonuses) in both cross-sectional and time-series settings. We also examine the effect of corporate governance characteristics on executive pensions. We find that corporate governance characteristics...

February 3, 2017
Labor Market,
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03Feb

Pension Coverage for Parents and Educational Investment in Children : Evidence from Urban China

By Yang Du and Ren Mu When social security is established to provide pensions to parents, their reliance upon children for future financial support decreases, and their need to save for retirement also falls. In this study, the expansion of pension coverage from the state sector to the non-state sector in urban China is used as a quasi-experiment to analyze the intergenerational impact of social security on education investments in children. In a difference-in-differences framework, a significant increase in the...

February 3, 2017
Adequacy, Labor Market
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03Feb

Building Voluntary Pension Schemes in Emerging Economies

By Rodolph Heinz After the financial crisis, some Central and Eastern Europe countries partially or totally reversed the pension reforms they had initiated in the previous two decades. In the presence of an aging population in the region, reductions in replacement rates will be the most likely adjustment mechanism for the social security systems to remain fiscally sustainable. In some other emerging economies, mandatory funded schemes are operating with low contribution rates, and policy makers have not been able to...

February 3, 2017
Labor Market, System Sustainability
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03Feb

Tax treatment of pensions and pensioners

By OECD The personal tax system plays an important role in old-age support. Pensioners often do not pay social security contributions. Personal income taxes are progressive and pension entitlements are usually lower than earnings before retirement, so the average tax rate on pension income is typically less than the tax rate on earned income. In addition, most income tax systems give preferential treatment either to pension incomes or to pensioners, through additional allowances or credits to older people. Full Content: OECD

February 3, 2017
Labor Market
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03Feb

Pensions statistics

By OECD This dataset includes pension funds statistics with OECD classifications by type of pension plans and by type of pension funds. All types of plans are included (occupational and personal, mandatory and voluntary). The OECD classification considers both funded and book reserved pension plans that are workplace-based (occupational pension plans) or accessed directly in retail markets (personal pension plans). Both mandatory and voluntary arrangements are included. The data includes plans where benefits are paid by a private sector entity...

February 3, 2017
Investing, Labor Market
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03Feb

Pensions at a Glance (Edition 2016)

By OECD The Pensions at a Glance database includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary pensions. It covers 34 OECD countries and aims to cover all G20 countries. Pensions at a Glance reviews and analyses the pension measures enacted or legislated in OECD countries. It provides an in-depth review of the first layer of protection of the elderly, first-tier pensions across countries and provideds a comprehensive selection of pension policy indicators for all OECD and...

February 3, 2017
Labor Market
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03Feb

Social security, pensions and old age adults’ poverty in Mexico.

By Araceli Damián After discussing the role of pension systems in capitalism as instruments of redistribution of income between capital and labor and, therefore, of the class struggle, it is recounted how, in a context of a fragmented and inconclusive Welfare State, pension systems emerged in Mexico, and recent reforms to pension systems are analyzed, showing their impact in the reduction of benefits. Lastly, the poverty of the population of retirement age is analyzed in relation to their access to...

February 3, 2017
Labor Market, System Sustainability,
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January 2017

12Jan

IDA at 65: Heading Toward Retirement or a Fragile Lease on Life? – Working Paper 246

By Todd Moss and Benjamin Leo - As the concessionary lending window of the World Bank, the International Development Association (IDA) has provided grants and low-interest loans to the world's poorest countries for over 50 years. IDA funds projects that address many of the problems associated with slower growth in developing countries related to primary education, basic health services, clean water supply and sanitation, environmental safeguards, business-climate improvements, infrastructure, and institutional reforms. However, looking to the future, IDA's operations will likely be substantially...

January 12, 2017
Corporate Governance, Labor Market, News
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12Jan

Identification for Development: The Biometrics Revolution – Working Paper 315

By Alan Gelb and Julia Clark - Formal identification is a prerequisite for development in the modern world. The inability to authenticate oneself when interacting with the state—or with private entities such as banks—inhibits access to basic rights and services, including education, formal employment, financial services, voting, social transfers, and more. Unfortunately, under documentation is pervasive in the developing world. Civil registration systems are often absent or cover only a fraction of the population. In contrast, people in rich countries...

January 12, 2017
Labor Market, Regulation
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