April 2022

Retirement Savings Policy: Past, Present, and Future (The Alexandra Lajoux Corporate Governance)

By Michael P. P. Barry Retirement Savings Policy reviews the basic policies that govern retirement savings plans, and their real world application, focusing on the key issues of finance, taxation, fiduciary conduct, and employee choice. The discussion is framed around the three fundamental challenges confronting employers and employees today – the pension legacy, the 401(k) revolution, and the pressure, from policymakers, regulators, opinion leaders, and individuals, for changes that will put retirement security within reach of all Americans. With more...

Global Pension Finance Watch: First quarter 2022

By Nathan Pavlik & David Finn The sharp increase in discount rates drove positive first quarter pension index results for all regions. Asset returns were negative for all regions except Brazil for the quarter which partially offset the liability gains. Inflationary impact were most pronounced in the UK where plans provide annual pension increases based in inflationary indicators. The overall impact of these changes resulted in positive pension index returns for all markets during the first quarter. While it is always...

Movements In and Out of Poverty at Older Ages: Evidence from the HRS

Movements In and Out of Poverty at Older Ages: Evidence from the HRS

By Robert L. Clark, Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell The objective of this paper is to determine Americans’ mobility patterns into and out of poverty in their later years. We track how older adults enter into and exit from poverty using the most extensive longitudinal survey on older Americans currently available, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Using over 20 years of data from the HRS, we show that the conditional probability of escaping poverty diminishes as the number...

The Danish Pension System: Design, Performance, and Challenges

By Andersen, Hougaard Jensen & Rangvid The need for pension reform is widely discussed against the backdrop of falling fertility rates and rising longevity. These developments challenge pension systems which in many countries already encounter problems with pension adequacy and financial sustainability. In the debate, reference is often made to Denmark as a model for pension system reform. This book offers the first coherent and in-depth description and analysis of the Danish pension system; its structure and performance. As is well-known to...

March 2022

Does Informal Sector Size Impede Economy Growth in Developing Countries?

Does Informal Sector Size Impede Economy Growth in Developing Countries?

By Loudi Njoya, Ngouhouo Ibrahim & Etah Ewane This paper empirically analyses the impact of the informal sector on long-term growth in developing countries. Using a panel of 112 countries from the icrg and Medina and Schneider (2018) over the period 1991 to 2015, a U-shaped relationship between the size of the informal sector and the growth of GDP per capita was obtained. These results, contrary to those of Ceyhun Elgin and Serdar Birinci (2016), show that a certain threshold...

The Current State of U.S. Workplace Retirement Plan Coverage

By John Sabelhaus Despite widespread support for government policies aimed at improving workplace retirement plans, nearly half of wage and salary workers in the U.S. still lack coverage. The lack of employer-sponsored pensions or other workplace retirement saving plans has led to state-level government initiatives aimed at expanding coverage to workers whose employers do not offer such plans. Designing and implementing efforts to broaden workplace retirement plan coverage requires understanding what types of workers lack coverage, in terms of both...

War and Pensions

War and Pensions

By John A. Turner, David M. Rajnes & Gerard Hughes Although war has had substantial effects, both positive and negative, on pension systems, the topic has received relatively little attention. War has played a role in the development of pension systems in many countries. Yet, no previous analysis has examined the full range of its effects. Source: Actuaries.org 390 views

A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States

By Robert L. Clark, Lee A. Craig & Jack W. Wilson Understanding the historical development of pensions is critical to the future of retirement systems around the world. A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States offers a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century. The authors emphasize how retirement plans can help achieve human resource objectives, how...

February 2022

Pension Systems and Sustainability: Japan

By United Nations With 297 trillion yen ($2,854 billion) in assets, the Japanese pension system is the third largest in the world.1 Between public and private providers, some 54% of assets are managed by PRI asset owner signatories, a higher proportion than in Australia, the US and the UK. This report builds on ideas set out in the PRI briefing ‘Sustainable Finance Policy in Japan’, published in October 2020, providing an overview of the Japanese system and its key sustainability...