April 2018

Organizing Old Age Pensions for India’s Informal Workers: A Case Study of a Sector-Driven Approach

By M.R. Narayana (University of Mysore) About 88 percent of India’s total labor force is composed of informal (officially labeled “unorganized”) workers. As many as 388 million such workers lack old age income security by way of a pension system. The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the latest contributory, national-level old age pension scheme for unorganized workers, with an entry age of 18–40 years. In other words, all current unorganized workers above the age of 40 are excluded. How could...

Retirement Drawdown Defaults: The Role of Implied Endorsement

By Jennifer Alonso-García (University of New South Wales (UNSW) - ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR)), Hazel Bateman (University of New South Wales (UNSW) - School of Actuarial Studies, Centre for Pensions and Superannuation), Johan Bonekamp (Tilburg University - Department of Econometrics & Operations Research), Ralph Stevens (CPB Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis; CEPAR) This paper explores whether implied endorsement can serve as an explanation for the stickiness of retirement drawdown defaults. Using an experimental survey...

Best Interests in the Long Term: Fiduciary Duties and ESG Integration

By Susan N. Gary (University of Oregon - School of Law) Two persistent misconceptions continue to affect the way fiduciaries think about sustainable investing: (1) fiduciary duties block a fiduciary investor from considering environmental and social factors and (2) if a fiduciary investor engages in sustainable or responsible investing, the portfolio will suffer financially. An examination of socially responsible investing, ESG integration (an investment process that involves consideration of material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors together with traditional financial...

Pensions: More Information, Less Ideology : Assessing the Long-Term Sustainability Ofeuropean Pension Systems : Data Requirements, Analysis and Evaluations

By Tito Boeri,‎ Axel Borsch-Supan,‎ Agar Brugiavini,‎ Richard Disney,‎ Arie Kapteyn &‎ Franco Peracchi Europeans are living longer, and fewer now remain in the labour force as they grow older. Many European countries have responded to the ensuing financial pressure by reforming their public pension systems and health care programmes. There is considerable uncertainty as to the effects of these reforms - as they typically do not alter the unfunded nature of public welfare arrangements and this uncertainty is itself...

Pensions: Backgrounds, Trends and Issues

By Henry J. Mullen This text examines the extent to which pension plans invest in hedge funds and private equity, the potential benefits and challenges of hedge fund investments, the potential benefits and challenges of private equity investments, and what mechanisms regulate pension plan investments in hedge funds and private equity. Get the book Here!

How a New Bond Can Greatly Improve Retirement Security

By Adam Kobor (New York University (NYU)) & Arun Muralidhar (AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions; George Washington University) There is a growing retirement crisis and most of the focus has been on the fact that individuals are not saving enough for retirement, may not have access to pension schemes, or are financially illiterate. However, the bigger issue might be that the assets/financial products available to investors, including those that offer legal protection to plan sponsors, may not be appropriate for the typical...

March 2018

The Time Has Come to Revisit Solvency Funding Rules

By Norma L. Nielson (University of Calgary - Haskayne School of Business) Canadians are not fond of hearing news about people losing their hard-earned pensions because their employer misused the money. The thought of some Working Joe or Jane being deprived of a pension, after a lifetime of working for a company, is naturally repugnant. That is why regulations around defined-benefit pension plans are designed to force employers to keep their pension funds sufficiently solvent. But there are many ways...

When I’m Sixty-four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them

By Teresa Ghilarducci A crisis is looming for baby boomers and anyone else who hopes to retire in the coming years. In When I'm Sixty-Four, Teresa Ghilarducci, the nation's leading authority on the economics of retirement, explains how to confront this crisis head-on, revealing the causes behind the increasingly precarious economics of old age in America and proposing a bold plan to guarantee retirement security for every working citizen. Retirement is one of the hallmarks of a prosperous, civilized market...