June 2018

04Jun

Management and Regulation of Pension Schemes: Australia a Cautionary Tale (Routledge Research in Finance and Banking Law)

By Nicholas Morris Perhaps the greatest long-term challenge facing modern economies is how to pay for the living expenses and care costs of the elderly. Following policy decisions made in Australia in the 1990s, a substantial part of the pension requirements of the next cohort of retirees will be met from savings accumulated during working years. The effective management of these savings is crucial. If they are invested wisely, the assets available to fund pensions and care will grow; if...

June 4, 2018
Books, Management, Pension design, Regulation, ,
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04Jun

Towards an Equitable and Sustainable Points System. A Proposal for Pension Reform in Belgium

By Erik Schokkaert (Catholic University of Leuven (KUL)), Pierre Devolder (Catholic University of Louvain), Jean Hindriks (University of London - School of Economics and Finance) & Frank Vandenbroucke (University of Amsterdam) We describe the points system as proposed by the Belgian Commission for Pension Reform 2020–2040. Intragenerational equity can be realised through the allocation of points within a cohort. The intergenerational distribution is determined by fixing the value of a point for the newly retired and a sustainability parameter for...

June 4, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, , , ,
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May 2018

21May

Golden Handcuffs and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from Defined Benefit Pension Plans

By Huu Nhan Duong (Monash University - Department of Banking and Finance; Financial Research Network (FIRN)), Bin Qiu (Missouri Western State University, Craig School of Business) & S. Ghon Rhee (University of Hawaii - Shidler College of Business; University of Hawaii - Department of Financial Economics and Institutions) This study takes advantage of sharply nonlinear funding rules for tax-qualified defined benefit (DB) plans to identify the effects of employees’ deferred compensation on corporate innovation. We find that firms with higher...

May 21, 2018
Articles, Pension design, ,
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14May

Retirement Really is Different

By Jeremy Cooper (Challenger Limited), Aaron Minney (Challenger Limited) & Amara Haqqani (Challenger Limited) Australia’s retirees are living longer, saving more and becoming increasingly self-reliant. Superannuation is moving from supplementing the age pension to substituting it for an increasing proportion of retirees, with only 42% of over-65s on a full age pension. This is forecast to decrease as super increasingly reduces the need for government assistance. Australia's super system is more mature than most people realise, with typical household superwealth...

May 14, 2018
Articles, Pension design,
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14May

Endogenous Retirement Behavior of Heterogeneous Households Under Pension Reforms

By Axel H. Börsch-Supan (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA)), Klaus Härtl (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA)), Duarte Nuno Leite (Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy; Universidade do Porto - CEF.UP - Center for Economics and Finance at UP) & Alexander Ludwig (Goethe University Frankfurt - Research Center SAFE; University of...

May 14, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Regulation, ,
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07May

The State of Social Safety Nets 2018

By World Bank  The State of Social Safety Nets 2018 Report examines global trends in the social safety net/social assistance coverage, spending, and program performance based on the World Bank Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) updated database. The report documents the main social safety net programs that exist globally and their use to alleviate poverty and to build shared prosperity. The 2018 report expands on the 2015 edition, both in administrative and household survey data...

May 7, 2018
Books, Pension design, System Sustainability,
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07May

The Use of Locally Imposed Selective Taxes to Fund Public Pension Liabilities

By Thad Calabrese (New York University (NYU) - Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service) This chapter examines a growing phenomenon in pension funding in which jurisdictions enact a new selective tax or fee, or increase an existing one, to reduce unfunded pension liabilities. Selective sales tax refers to a sales tax confined to a particular commodity or a limited number of commodities, such as a tax on sales of liquor, cigarettes, gasoline, or other petroleum products. Because this...

May 7, 2018
Articles, Pension design,
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07May

Designing Pension Systems with Coherent Funded Private Pillars Including Issues for Notional Defined Contribution Schemes

By William Joseph Price (World Bank) This paper reviews the factors that should guide the design of private funded pensions to create a complete pension system alongside a notional defined contribution -- or public -- component. It argues that a mix of public and private pensions is the most effective option to deliver the best combination of pension outcomes. Pension design should start with a vision for five core outcomes: coverage, adequacy, sustainability, efficiency, and security. Thinking through these outcomes...

May 7, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Savings,
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April 2018

25Apr

Do pension participants want the freedom to choose or the freedom to snooze?

By Hendrik P. van Dalen and Kène Henkens Individual freedom of choice is a much heralded and cherished principle in democracies. Milton Friedman and colleagues at his alma mater, the University of Chicago, made this a cornerstone of their belief (Friedman & Friedman, 1990). The freedom of choice is the antidote to excessive government interference and an instrument which enables people to realize their goals and discipline agents and organizations. The call for freedom is getting louder as individualization of...

April 25, 2018
Articles, Investing, OP Ed, Pension design, PPI’s original Op-Eds, Savings, Slider-Left, ,
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23Apr

Portfolio Choice, Trading, and Returns in a Large 401(K) Plan

By Pierluigi Balduzzi (Boston College), Julie R. Agnew (College of William and Mary) & Annika E. Sundén (Stockholm University) This paper examines portfolio choice, trading behavior, and realized rates of return of more than seven thousand 401(k) retirement accounts during the April 1994-August 1998 time period. The evidence on equity allocations is indicative of prudent behavior: on average our investors hold 40% of their 401(k) portfolios in stocks. In addition, patterns of stock allocations by marital status, age, and earnings...

April 23, 2018
Pension design,
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