September 2018

03Sep

China's Pension Reforms: Political Institutions, Skill Formation and Pension Policy in China (China Policy Series)

By Ke Meng Existing literature has looked at many factors which have shaped Chinese pension reforms. As China’s pension reform proceeds in an expanding and localising fashion, this book argues that there is a pressing need to examine it in the context of China’s political institutions and economic transformations. The book takes a unique approach by looking at political institutions of the Chinese state and the changing conditions of the Chinese economy, which rarely receive proper treatment in the current...

September 3, 2018
Books, Pension design, Regulation, , ,
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03Sep

Advances in the Practice of Public Investment Management: Portfolio Modelling, Performance Attribution and Governance

By Narayan Bulusu ,‎ Joachim Coche,‎ Alejandro Reveiz,‎ Francisco Rivadeneyra,‎ Vahe Sahakyan,‎ Ghislain Yanou This book covers the latest advances in the theory and practice of public investment management. It includes the most up-to-date developments in the implementation of public asset management - including multiple contributions on portfolio allocation in varying interest-rate and credit-risk environments. Other highlights include implementation, performance attribution and governance issues surrounding reserves management, portfolio construction techniques appropriate for public investors and an in-depth discussion of the...

September 3, 2018
Books, Investing, Management, Pension design,
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03Sep

State Pension Accounting Estimates and Strong Public Unions

By Samuel B. Bonsall (Pennsylvania State University - Department of Accounting), Joseph Comprix (Syracuse University) & Karl A. Muller (Pennsylvania State University - Department of Accounting) Concerns are commonly raised that strong public unions extract generous pension benefits from state governments and are the cause of states’ burdensome pension obligations. Prior research (Anzia and Moe 2015) finds evidence supporting such concerns. Consistent with incentives to minimize such perceptions, our findings suggest that state pension plans with stronger public unions select...

September 3, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, ,
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03Sep

Pensionomics

By Mario Arturo Ruiz Estrada (University of Malaya: Social Security Research Centre (SSRC)) This paper explores the concept of pensionomics as a prospective tool of pension evaluation. The paper suggests a paradigm shift: a multidisciplinary synthesis of differing perspectives in evaluating pension overall performance based on past work on pension evaluation, incorporating non-economic variables with significant impact on economic growth and social development. The paper suggests a new analytical tool called “Pensions Consistency (PC) Index” that identifies the level of...

September 3, 2018
Articles, Management, Pension design, ,
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August 2018

18Aug

The Relationship Between Financial Planner Use and Holding a Retirement Saving Goal: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

By Kyoung Tae Kim (University of Alabama), Tae-Young Pak (University of Alabama), Su Hyun Shin (University of Alabama) & Sherman D. Hanna (Ohio State University (OSU)) It has been well established in the literature that financial advice leads to informed decision making and improved financial outcomes. However, there is limited evidence regarding the link between financial planner use and attitudes towards retirement saving. As financial planners provide comprehensive advice for the long-term benefits of clients, their clients may become more...

August 18, 2018
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, Savings, ,
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11Aug

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer

By Courtney Coile This is the introduction and summary to the eighth phase of an ongoing project on Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World. This project, which compares the experiences of a dozen developed countries, was launched in the mid 1990s following decades of decline in the labor force participation rate of older men. The first several phases of the project document that social security program provisions can create powerful incentives for retirement that are strongly correlated with...

August 11, 2018
Aging, Books, Labor Market, Pension design, , , ,
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11Aug

Financial Incentives and Earnings of Disability Insurance Recipients: Evidence from a Notch Design

By Philippe Ruh Most countries reduce Disability Insurance (DI) benefits for beneficiaries earning above a specified threshold. Such an earnings threshold generates a discontinuous increase in tax liability—a notch—and creates an incentive to keep earnings below the threshold. Exploiting such a notch in Austria, we provide transparent and credible identification of the effect of financial incentives on DI beneficiaries’ earnings. Using rich administrative data, we document large and sharp bunching at the earnings threshold. However, the elasticity driving these responses...

August 11, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, Pension design,
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08Aug

Annuity Puzzle: how products are designed matters

By Eduardo Rodríguez Montemayor PPI’s Editorial Board editorial@pensionpolicy.net Getting an annuity with our savings pot at the time of retirement is the only contract that guarantees periodic pension payments for life. Yet, few people do it when offered to option to do so. What explains this puzzle? An annuity is a financial contract that pays out a periodic amount for as long as the annuitant is alive, in exchange for an initial premium. Defined-contribution (DC) pension schemes usually make it voluntary to choose whether to buy an...

August 8, 2018
Articles, Investing, Labor Market, OP Ed, Pension design, PPI’s original Op-Eds, Slider-Left, , , ,
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06Aug

Self-Insurance Against Natural Disasters: The Use of Pension Funds in Pacific Island Countries

By Si Guo (International Monetary Fund (IMF)) & Futoshi Narita Pacific island countries are exposed to significant risks from natural disasters. As adisaster relief measure, Fiji allowed pre-retirement pension withdrawls in the wake ofCyclone Winston in 2016. Motivated by this policy action, we provide a normativeanalysis of the use of early pension withdrawals after disasters, by setting up a life-cyclesaving model with myopic households facing large natural disaster shocks. The modeldemonstrates the key trade-off between building up sufficient retirement savings...

August 6, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Savings,
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06Aug

A Risk Too Far The Case Against Collective Defined Contribution Pensions

By Michael Johnson Royal Mail has committed to offering its workers a Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pension scheme, designed to split the difference between existing Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit schemes. The CDC idea is winning increasing support. But it is risky, untested and undermines the personal pensions freedoms introduced in 2015 The system risks creating irreversible intergenerational injustice by overpaying pensioners at the expense of current and future employees. It is also unclear whether what is promised to workers is actually deliverable. Where...

August 6, 2018
Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability, , , ,
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