December 2018

16Dec

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 these plans and how the...

December 16, 2018
Articles, Investing, Pension design, Savings, ,
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10Dec

The Vulnerability of Older Australians in Bankruptcy: Insights from an Empirical Study

By Lev Bromberg (The University of Melbourne), Ian Ramsay (Melbourne Law School - University of Melbourne), Paul Ali (University of Melbourne - Law School; Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR)) This article presents the results of the first empirical study focused on older Australians in bankruptcy. Our study — based on the examination of a large and unique dataset obtained by the authors from the bankruptcy regulator — provides a valuable insight into the severe financial challenges faced by...

December 10, 2018
Aging, Articles, Pension design, , ,
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04Dec

Pension Reform and Return to Work Policies

By Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick For many people, working after beginning retirement benefit collection is a way to enhance financial security by increasing income. Existing research has shown that retirees are sensitive to the Social Security earnings test, which restricts the amount of earnings some beneficiaries can receive. However, little is known about the effects of other types of policies on post-retirement employment. Instead of restricting earnings, many public pension plans restrict the number of hours beneficiaries can work. I use...

December 4, 2018
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, , ,
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03Dec

Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality

By Katherine S Newman As millions of Baby Boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. Nearly half the households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the home equity that millions were counting on to support their retirement. And the typical Social Security check covers less than 40% of pre-retirement wages--a number projected to drop to under...

December 3, 2018
Books, Pension design, Savings, ,
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03Dec

Effects of Future Pension Benefits on Pre-Retirement Labor Supply: Evidence from Chile

By Oscar Becerra (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) In this paper, I estimate the effect of future pension benefits on pre-retirement labor supply for a representative sample of Chilean workers. Using non-linear patterns in pension benefit formulas and a reform that changed non-contributory pensions, I estimate the effect of pension accrual and expected pension wealth on labor force and contributory-sector participation, labor earnings, and hours worked. I find that the effect is related to the impact of pension accrual on...

December 3, 2018
Articles, Pension design, , ,
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November 2018

02Nov

Curious contracts : pension fund redesign for the future

By Theo P. Kocken (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Klamer’s approach of the culture of economics is relevant and applicable to investing, because culture is an extension of rhetoric and relates to uncertainty. Uncertainty, a feeling of anxiety, is handled by culture. With culture, Klamer focusses on substantial instead of instrumental rationality, and advocates value ethics. In Klamer’s approach values and conversations are central. The values of a culture are not evident and therefore have to be interpreted. Emerging from my personal...

November 2, 2018
Books, Pension design, ,
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October 2018

22Oct

The Pivotal Role of Fairness: Which Consumers Like Annuities?

By Suzanne B. Shu (University of California, Los Angeles - Anderson School of Management), Robert Zeithammer (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Anderson School of Management), John W. Payne (Duke University - Marketing) Life annuities can be a valuable component of the decumulation stage of wealth during retirement. While economists argue that most retirees should annuitize, actual demand in the marketplace is low. We analyze data from two studies to determine how measurable individual differences among consumers affect their...

October 22, 2018
Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability, , ,
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22Oct

The Chinese Pension System

By Hanming Fang (University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) & Jin Feng (Fudan University - School of Economics) We provide a detailed overview of the current state of the Chinese pension system, as well as its development, its problems and some ideas for future reforms. (more…)

October 22, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, System Sustainability, ,
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16Oct

Stars Aligning For Corporate Plans to Take De-Risking Actions

The market volatility experienced in early to mid-October speaks to the importance of plan sponsors having a governance structure and framework in place to effectuate changes to their portfolios in a timely manner when funded levels rise. As we have seen in prior periods, improvements in funded status can dissipate quickly if portfolios are not adjusted to reduce asset and liability mismatches. A well-funded or even fully funded plan can still carry substantial risk for the sponsor if plan...

October 16, 2018
Articles, Corporate Governance, Pension design, , ,
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12Oct

The Impact of Investment on Climate Change: The Case Study of Cambodia

By Phon Sophat (Thammasat University - Faculty of Economics; National Bank of Cambodia) Climate change has been mentioned as priority issues which government try to handle it with carefulness and suitability with growth and FDIs. The mainstreaming climate change might be converted into sub-national planning scale extremely identified. This include of the Strategic Framework for both centralization and decentralisation under the National Program for Sub National Democratic Development, So the development of a guideline for mainstreaming climate change into sub-national...

October 12, 2018
Articles, Investing, Pension design, Slider-Left, ,
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