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May 2019

Averting the Multiemployer Pension Solvency Crisis

By Charles Blahous (Mercatus Center at George Mason University)By Mercatus Research Paper The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) multiemployer pension insurance program faces projected insolvency, driven by systemic underfunding of multiemployer pension plans. To address this brewing crisis, Congress has established a joint select committee to develop multiemployer pension reforms. Primary causes of the crisis include lax funding rules and inaccurate valuations of pension assets and liabilities. Explanations frequently offered for underfunding, such as financial market downturns...

April 2019

Inclusive Growth: The Global Challenges of Social Inequality and Financial Inclusion

By Howard Thomas, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong Inclusive growth ensures the benefits of a growing economy extend to all segments of society. Unleashing people’s economic potential starts with connecting them to the vital networks that power the modern economy. Implementing inclusive growth is a means of democratizing productivity and it is essential to reduce the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor in both developed and developing economies.   This book arose out of a research partnership between the Mastercard Center for...

Financial Inclusion in the Europe and Central Asia Region: Recent Trends and a Research Agenda

By Asli Demirguc-Kunt (World Bank), Bingjie Hu (World Bank), Leora Klapper (World Bank) Financial inclusion can help promote development. Inclusive financial systems allow people to invest in their education and health, save for retirement, capitalize on business opportunities, and confront shocks. In the Europe and Central Asia region, there is great variation in financial inclusion. In the euro area, most adults already own an account. Account ownership -- which is the first step of entry into the formal financial system...

Accounting for Pension Liabilities

By Katrin Brugger This book presents the US pension system and its development which is described by an overview of accounting standards and regulation boards and by comparing those to the International Financial Reporting Standard. The ideas of future pension plans and payments are underlined by an analysis of the demographic development in the US. Major pension plans are presented and information on: how participation is made, what kinds of benefits arise and who is eligible for those, is given....

ESG Investing: From Sin Stocks to Smart Beta

By Fabio Alessandrini (University of Lausanne; Banque Cantonale Vaudoise) & Eric Jondeau (University of Lausanne - Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne); Swiss Finance Institute) Research on socially responsible investment in equity markets initially focused on sin stocks. Since then, the availability of data has been extended substantially and now covers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. Using ESG scores of firms belonging to the MSCI World universe, we measure the impact of score-based exclusion on both passive investment...

March 2019

Global Pension Crisis: Unfunded Liabilities and How We Can Fill the Gap

By Richard A. Marin, Robert H. Frank A comprehensive look at the crisis of unfunded pension liabilities and what must be done to avoid the same problem in the future As the generational bubble of the Baby Boomers begins to retire, it is increasingly evident that governments, corporations, and individuals have failed to adequately prepare for the obligations and needs of this giant cohort. Retirees are outliving actuarial life expectancies, pension liabilities are skyrocketing, pension plans are underfunded, and medical costs...

The phony retirement crisis

By Andrew Biggs Contrary to the alarms, household savings are growing. But government plans are underfunded. Lawmakers are taking action to deal with the “retirement crisis.” More than 200 House Democrats are sponsoring a bill to expand Social Security benefits, funded by a dramatic increase in taxes. California, Connecticut, Illinois and Oregon have established state-run retirement plans for private sector-workers, which many progressives hope will supplant 401(k)s. But there is no retirement crisis among either today’s retirees or tomorrow’s. Eight in 10...

Enhancing the Sustainability of Indian Pension Disbursal-System by Employing Digital Technology

By Vijay Kumar Gupta (Government of India) India is a welfare state progressing well economically. If this progress is to continue without social upheavals, a sustainable social security system is mandatory. Pensions, and pension reforms, are an essential part of any social security system. This paper argues that it is imperative to reform the existing provident and pension fund entities. We also need better systems for administration and delivery of old age assistance. The major areas which the reforms should...

Designing Public Policies: Principles and Instruments

By Michael Howlett The second edition of this highly regarded book provides a concise and accessible introduction to the principles and elements of policy design in contemporary governance. It examines in detail the range of substantive and procedural policy instruments that together comprise the toolbox from which governments choose tools to resolve policy problems and the principles and practices that lead to their use. Guiding readers through the study of the many different kinds of instruments used by governments in carrying...

February 2019

Pension Funds with Automatic Enrollment Schemes: Lessons for Emerging Economies

By Heinz P. Rudolph (The World Bank) Since the introduction of the KiwiSaver scheme in New Zealand in 2006, several countries have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, voluntary funded pension systems with automatic enrollment features. Since most of the literature has focused on countries with the common law tradition, including the United Kingdom and the United States, this note analyzes cases of countries with the civil code tradition, including Turkey, Poland, the Russian Federation, Chile, Brazil, and...